Your personal passions might just be the launchpad for a fantastic travel company. Anna McKitrick is proof.

After building a following as a vegan influencer on social media, Anna stumbled into group travel — and leveraged her following to build a tour company operating 17 trips a year. Anna joins the podcast to discuss her journey from Instagram to tourism and share secrets of how she has built her operation without spending any money on digital marketing.

Anna discusses the many opportunities for vegan travel in 2025 and why even meat-lovers enjoy her trips. She also shares how she leverages the power of a niche audience to build a travel travel experiences that align with her values and thrill her customers. Plus, we have news about changing U.S. travel statistics; a road tip about avoiding travel bloat; and a Hot Minute about the the dumbest thing happening in America.

Podcast: Embed

Insights from Anna McKitrick

Anna had lots of great insights about how she builds trips to align closely with a niche set of values and interests. Here’s what he had to say about how a small audience helps her develop great product:

“About half the people signed up for our trips now are past travelers. In many ways, it makes it kind of easy to scout and create the perfect trip for that person. Those repeat travelers are in my mind when I’m in a new destination.”

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

Follow Anna McKitrick on on Instagram and TikTok.

Find Vegan AF on Instagram and TikTok, or visit the website at veganaftravel.com.

Learn more about GroupCollect at groupcollect.com/gatherandgo.

Key Moments From This Episode

1:36 — Travel News: U.S. Travel has downgraded its 2025 forecast

3:00 — Road Tip: The perfect trick for avoiding stomach bloat on the road

14:07 — How an Instagram career led Anna McKitrick to tourism

16:06 — What makes a vegan trip different?

18:10 — How serving a niche audience is a pro, not a con

21:15 — Building a social following without ads

24:08 — Organic social tips for boosting sales

29:14 — Transitioning from solopreneur to CEO

32:59 — How content creators can make money on group travel

38:06 — Curating authentic local experiences for special interests

38:45 — How Brent finds great young employees

50:18 — Hot Minute: The dumbest thing about America

Watch the Full Interview

See the full interview with Anna, including content not in the regular episode, on our YouTube channel.

Thanks to our sponsor Louisville Tourism for making this episode possible. Learn more about group travel to the Bourbon City at gotolouisville.com/travel-professionals.

About the Podcast

Gather and Go with Brian Jewell is a tourism industry podcast that helps group travel leaders plan, promote and lead better trips. There are also tips and insights for destination marketers and others who support the tourism trade. Each episode reaches thousands of professional tour operators, travel agents and the volunteer group leaders they serve. The audience also includes destination museum leaders, church travel leaders and other tourism enthusiasts around the world. Each show includes an interview with a smart travel pro or an insightful person from outside tourism who’s expertise can help make travel businesses better. You’ll also hear travel news, road tips and more. New episodes are released about twice monthly.

You can find Gather and Go wherever your listen to podcasts or subscribe by email.

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