What will I learn in a travel writing degree or training program?
Travel writing is s sub-species, a specialty, of journalism so a degree or training program in it will take you through most of the basics of journalism itself. Indeed, the best travel writing pieces are very like investigative journalism so the skills are very much the same. You'll be taught how to frame a story, how to write a lede (this is the jargon for the opening paragraph that captures the reader's attention), what to include and how to draw attention to those parts of the story you want to emphasize. One thing that is very different about travel writing and thus something that a degree or training program will help you to understand and deal with is that clearly the place you are describing, the readers haven't been there. You're trying to give them an impression, an overview, rather than simply providing them with the facts as in traditional journalistic writing. So there's a lot more descriptive work to be done.
What will a travel writing degree or training program qualify me to do?
Being able to master this sort of descriptive writing is itself a useful talent: most especially if you want to write fiction for example. However, the most common job after such a degree or training program is to become a travel writer. The travel section is one of the most popular in most newspapers and magazines so there's plenty of work around. They pay is similar to other journalists (average $31,000) with the advantage that you get paid to go to the places you write about.
