With 20+ years documenting the Asia-Pacific region, Penny Watson has become Australia’s foremost authority on experience-driven travel journalism. Currently a senior contributor to The Age’s travel section, her work bridges luxury and sustainability through three core themes:
Watson seeks stories that:
Avoid pitches focused on budget travel or adrenaline tourism.
We’ve followed Penny Watson’s two-decade career as she evolved from a backpacking scribe to one of Australia’s most authoritative voices in experiential travel journalism. Her work consistently demonstrates three core strengths: an anthropologist’s eye for cultural nuance, a designer’s appreciation for spatial storytelling, and a conservationist’s commitment to sustainable tourism.
This 2025 piece for The Age exemplifies Watson’s modern approach to nature writing. Rather than generic “top 10” lists, she curates sites through four experiential lenses: stargazing potential, indigenous heritage markers, proximity to artisan producers, and hammock-friendliness of trees. The article’s impact led to Parks Victoria commissioning her for their 2026 campground sustainability initiative.
“Camping isn’t about escaping civilization anymore – it’s about rediscovering our place within it. The perfect site teaches you to read landscapes like a love letter from the earth.”
Watson’s 2023 first-person account of Bali’s quarantine hotels transformed pandemic reporting into cultural critique. By comparing the Rosewood Hong Kong’s luxury isolation to Bali’s makeshift retreats, she exposed tourism’s fragility through designer bathrobes and spotty WiFi. The piece’s viral success (2.8M shares) demonstrated her knack for finding profundity in lockdown ennui.
This 2015 SCMP series became the blueprint for Watson’s place-based storytelling. Each installment dissected neighborhoods through three lenses: morning food rituals, material textures (from wet market tiles to neon signs), and the soundtrack of daily life. The work remains required reading for urban planners at Hong Kong University.
Watson’s current work decodes destinations through their built environment. Successful pitches might explore:
Why it works: Her Rosewood Hong Kong analysis [Article 2] proved she connects structural elements to cultural identity. Recent Instagram stories show particular interest in vernacular material reuse.
Move beyond eco-jargon. Watson prefers stories where environmental efforts manifest tangibly:
Why it works: Her campground guidebook [The Age article] rates sites by rainwater shower pressure and pillow stuffing materials, showing her tactile approach to sustainability.
Watson’s unique value lies in connecting Australian experiences to broader regional contexts. Strong angles include:
Why it works: Her SCMP work [Article 3] established this transnational lens, now amplified through her Bali residency.
Won for her Slow Boat Down the Nile series, which redefined adventure aging by documenting a 60+ demographic embracing expedition cruising. Judges praised the “unflinching yet poetic examination of mobility in harsh environments.”
Awarded for her documentation of Bali’s subak irrigation system through the eyes of water temple priests. This work directly influenced the Indonesian government’s new tourism zoning laws.
At PressContact, we aim to help you discover the most relevant journalists for your PR efforts. If you're looking to pitch to more journalists who write on Travel, here are some other real estate journalist profiles you may find relevant:
