Today’s podcast interview is with the founder of Spotted By Locals, Bart van Poll. Learn how Bart took an idea and turned it into a network for local experts to share their best tips. The blog and community Spotted By Locals is a great resource for travelers. Tips in their city guides are written by locals who actually live in these cities. Bart, who is originally from the Netherlands, will explain how he monetized the Spotted By Locals website and made it profitable. For most people, just starting such a website is difficult, but making money from it is even more challenging. Bart succeeded in this.

Full Interview Show Notes

We discuss emerging locations, overtourism, Bart’s favorite destinations, how he travels, and his thoughts on Google getting into the travel space.

It is the future: emerging destinations that have avoided over-tourism. People are looking to finally go do something else and the pandemic has helped in that way.

📍 On focus in the travel industry

“At the moment, we cover 81 cities across North America, Europe, and the Middle East. we write about spots that aren’t super touristic. We focus on cities that are less than touristy, emerging destinations in the last three years only.”

📍On overtourism

“It is the future: emerging destinations that have avoided over-tourism. It’s been a buzzword for a long time and people are looking to finally go do something else. And the pandemic has helped in that way. I think people want to experience less crowded places. I’m happy we made the choice to focus on these destinations”.

📍On little-known, misunderstood Chișinău, Moldova

“The way the YouTuber Bald and Bankrupt talks about Chișinău doesn’t do it justice. I think it’s a pretty lovely city actually with low-rise buildings and really friendly locals. It has a lot of problems everywhere, but it’s a charming place I really try to promote it to friends. But Bald and Bankrupt did get me interested in visiting so maybe the tourist board can be grateful (for the exposure)”

Links & More Information

• Spotted by Locals website
• Spotted by locals Instagram
• Peloponnese, Greece
• Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Athens, Greece
• New Zealand
• Yerevan, Armenia
• Tbilisi, Georgia
• Thessaloniki, Greece
• Tashkent, Uzbekistan
• Chișinău, Moldiva
• Nate Hake from Travel Lemming
• Bald and Bankrupt – Video on Chișinău
• Gary Arndt from Everything Everywhere
• DuckDuckGo.com – Google search engine ‘competitor’
• Buffer.com – social media scheduling app
• The Silk Roads – Peter Frankopan
• Sapiens – Noah Yuval Harari