Travel changed her life and so now the former office worker absolutely wants to share it with her Japanese followers and soon, an international audience. Meet Ayumi Amemiya, who calls herself a luxury backpacker and runs her own travel website to inspire others to travel.
Ayumi was an office worker and it was a solo trip to Thailand, Cambodia and Laos that changed the course of her life. “It felt so good and I became addicted to it.”
She started freelancing as a “model” for a magazine selling beauty and fashion products, and then got into travel writing. As her writing career took off, she quit her office job. “I just want to see the world and change myself – I knew I wasn’t going to do that in an office job.”
Right after the shootings in Sri Lanka in April, Ayumi paid her own way to travel to the country to see for herself the situation on the ground. “I saw that it was not dangerous at all and there was strong security everywhere. I wanted to tell Japanese people that it’s still safe to travel to Sri Lanka.”
Over her career, Ayumi has travelled to 50 countries. Her website is mostly followed by Japanese, aged in their 20s and 30s. “Young people are travelling less, and that’s a concern. That’s why I want to change that. I was an office worker and I changed my life by travelling. They don’t know how to change and I want them to see the world.”
As an influencer, Ayumi joins fam trips organized by tourism boards as well as hotel groups.
As if travel has become different now it’s become her livelihood, she said, “Yes, I feel different about travel now. If you travel for work, you have to take photos and write articles – so you don’t have much time or space to feel the moments. If I am travelling for myself, I can focus on feelings.
“It is important to keep the balance. If I am travelling for myself, I choose to go anywhere, not places my clients pick.”
As for how she differentiates herself among the hordes of bloggers and influencers out there, Ayumi said, “It is getting difficult. I have to focus on sharing the feeling of places. I have travelled extensively, I know the differences and can compare experiences.”
She said that most clients in Asia focus on Instagram while clients from Europe are more interested in number of visitors to the website or subscription numbers. Ayumi’s Instagram account has 16,600 followers. She is also present on these platforms – anan web, LINE travel and her own web media.
Ayumi is now keen to start writing in English to expand her audience beyond Japan. “I feel my experiences are as relevant to other cultures as they are to Japanese.”
Note: Ayumi Amemiya is speaking at WiT Japan & North Asia, July 4-5, on how she uses content to inspire and influence travellers.
• Images credit: Ayumi Amemiya
