Telling location-centered stories around the world, including articles, videos, photography, illustration and animation, with an in-house creative and editorial teams work with a global network of freelance creators -- Alex Shebar, Director of Experiences for Culture Trip, joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studio.

In this episode:

• It’s Bess’ last show! She’s going to get her Masters from Stanford.
• Alex talks about how travelers are looking for different experiences. It’s not just the Louvre, it’s the stuff the locals know about, and the way to access that information is through content.
• What sets Culture Trip apart from the countless other travel blogs that have been around even longer? The secret is in the amazing community of content creators all over the world that they’ve been able to put together.
• The travel responsibility trend. People are being very conscious about the kind of traveling they’re doing, who are the people, what’s the culture you’re becoming a part of when you visit?
• Alex’s snack - pickles from the pickle guys! He went there with his fiancé on a local experience tour, and loved it.
• A little bit about Alex - from Boston, went to journalism school, but quickly found out he hated being one after working the night shift and showing up to crime scenes alone in the middle of the night. He was in Cincinnati, and started organizing public screenings of the top 100 films of all time, which blew up, Yelp contacted him to be a community manager, then worked for Bumble before landing at Culture Trip.
• Turning content into experience. Culture Trip has the users, they can create partnerships all over the world. Getting users excited about content they want to be a part of, and then giving them the opportunity to book it.
• Alex wants Culture Trip to be a household name, and would love to work with the Met or MOMA or the London Zoo, as well as weirder smaller tours.
• What does Alex miss most from Boston? Believe it or not it’s the sort of touristy places: Legal Seafood, Neptune House.
• Bess shares a final thought - she’s really optimistic about the travel industry. There are so many great companies starting out and she feels theres even more opportunity out there to go big and off the wall.

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