Visitation Guidelines

The Visit Pittsburgh communications team stands ready to provide a full range of services for travel journalists like fact checking, hotels, and more.

VisitPITTSBURGH welcomes your interest in our region and the many great travel adventures it offers. Our communications team stands ready to provide a full range of services, from fact checking and assistance with arranging interviews with local sources, to working with you to create an itinerary that meets your interests and arranging accommodations to suit your needs. We facilitate visits to world-class museums and renowned performing arts venues, riverfront and outdoor activities, public art and historic architecture tours, as well as independent restaurants or culinary venues, quirky and funky attractions and unique neighborhoods.

Our goal is to help you maximize your Pittsburgh experience while being flexible, and understanding that you need time to relax.

Depending on the nature of your story assignment, VisitPITTSBURGH can provide financial assistance for accommodations, tickets and admission fees, transportation, escorts and more. All that we require is a well-written story about your experience that is published in a reputable media outlet. For those writing exclusively for websites and blogs, we are looking for a reasonable number of impressions in our target market – prospective overnight travelers or opinion leaders.

Please allow two to four weeks advance notice for media hosting and itinerary assistance. Note that complimentary arrangements are provided at the discretion of VisitPITTSBURGH, along with the host businesses and are subject to availability. Black-out periods can occur that may necessitate a media rate being charged for overnight accommodations. In addition, understand that our primary concern is assisting working media, and VisitPITTSBURGH may not always be able to accommodate accompanying spouses, children and/or friends.

VisitPITTSBURGH's policy prohibits the hosting of journalists if the primary purpose of the trip is leisure or holiday travel for that individual with family and/or friends.

We look forward to working with you as you plan your visit.

Journalists seeking support should submit the following:

Staff Travel and Freelance Print Journalists

  • A written letter/email of assignment from an editor stating you have been assigned to produce a specific travel or destination feature
  • Readership (market reach) statistics for the assigning media outlet
  • Links to past travel-related stories
  • Anticipated publish date of article

Independent Bloggers
Blogs should be well-established travel or lifestyle blogs that are regularly updated and have a well-documented, broad subscriber base. VisitPITTSBURGH will determine approval based on blog’s focus, reach, content and style. Independent travel bloggers should submit:

  • Link to the blog(s) and past travel-related posts
  • The blog(s) current Google PageRank (or Alexa ranking)
  • Number of subscribers/unique visitors per month
  • Must be active on social media, Facebook and Twitter in particular, with a reasonable number of documented followers and be committed to tweeting and posting during the trip

Broadcast (TV and radio) journalists

  • Must be affiliated with a major-market radio or television newscast/show
  • A written letter/email of assignment from an editor stating that they have been assigned to produce a specific travel or destination feature segment
  • Details outlining station, market reach
  • Links to past travel-related stories
  • Anticipated run date

After Your Trip

VisitPITTSBURGH asks that you please forward an original copy of coverage resulting from your trip to Pittsburgh. Magazines, newspapers, travel radio/television programs and guidebook companies can mail original articles or, in the case of broadcast stories, digital copies to your VisitPITTSBURGH contact.

Direct links to online articles, TV or radio clips and blogs can be emailed to your VisitPITTSBURGH contact.

Complete the Media Request Form, with the Press Trip Request section filled out, and a VisitPITTSBURGH staff person will contact you directly.