AFAR

About AFAR

AFAR is an American travel magazine and media brand founded in 2009 and published by AFAR Media from offices in San Francisco and New York. Launched at the height of the Great Recession by entrepreneurs Greg Sullivan and Joseph Diaz, it staked its identity on "experiential travel" — the idea that travel should be immersive and authentic rather than an escape plotted from checklists — at a moment when established travel titles were struggling and even closing. The company has since grown into a multi-platform travel media business whose portfolio includes AFAR magazine, afar.com, the Learning AFAR nonprofit scholarship program, the AFAR Experiences event series, the Travel Tales podcast, and AFAR Advisor, a business-to-business platform for travel advisors.

Founding

AFAR was founded by Greg Sullivan and Joseph Diaz after the pair took a six-week trip to India that convinced them travel could be deeper, richer, and more meaningful than the way it was covered in the media. When they decided to launch a travel magazine in 2009, people thought the idea was crazy: the Great Recession was forcing the demise of once-popular titles like Vibe, Domino, Gourmet, and Teen, and dozens of print publications were being shuttered amid declining subscriptions and dwindling ad sales. Sullivan and Diaz were avid travelers and successful entrepreneurs — with backgrounds spanning real estate investment, arcade games, and used cars — but had no experience in publishing. What they lacked in industry knowledge they made up for in passion, teaching themselves the business from books and recruiting guidance from industry professionals.

"When Joe and I travel, we see the country through the eyes of its locals," Sullivan said. "Most travel magazines focus on the escape with guides and checklists. No one was talking about our kind of travel — experiential travel — and we knew we could be its voice." People told them to start a blog, but they insisted they needed a magazine that would lend itself to stories and photos. They launched AFAR as a print magazine in fall 2009 with editor-in-chief Julia Cosgrove, publishing six times a year with an initial rate base of 50,000, a subscription price of $19.95 a year, and a $4.99 cover price. The masthead also included president and publisher John Sheehy, formerly of Utne Reader. Sullivan had begun his career as a corporate securities attorney and later worked as an investment banker before launching ventures including the world's largest-selling coin-operated basketball game manufacturer and the second-largest used car sales and finance company in the United States; he has also served on the board of Carvana. Diaz, the company's chief product officer, became a frequent speaker on travel trends and digital media innovation. Their pivotal six-week trip to India convinced both men that travel could be a way to seek meaning, purpose, and connection rather than mere escapism — the insight that became AFAR's foundation.

Experiential travel

The magazine's founding thesis was that a rapidly growing number of travelers hungered for more immersive and authentic experiences, and that no media publication was serving them. AFAR's editorial mission — to inspire, guide, and enable its audience to have deeper, richer, and more fulfilling travel experiences — shaped every platform it built. Rather than ranking hotels or listing itineraries, AFAR's journalism emphasizes encounters with local people, food and drink, arts and culture, the outdoors, and the texture of place. Its coverage spans travel news, air travel, hotels and accommodation, road trips, family travel, cruises, train travel, and destination guides, all filtered through the experiential lens.

Growth into a media company

From a print launch, AFAR Media grew into a multi-platform company. Its portfolio now includes AFAR magazine; afar.com; Learning AFAR, a nonprofit travel scholarship program; AFAR Experiences, an immersive travel event series; the Travel Tales podcast; and AFAR Advisor, a B2B platform for travel advisors. A defunct program, AFAR Ambassadors, once organized a large group of unpaid contributors who created online content. The company has won recognition in travel journalism, including Lowell Thomas Awards, and the magazine was featured on the Martha Stewart Show, signaling its arrival in the mainstream travel conversation.

Learning AFAR

Learning AFAR is the company's nonprofit arm, founded alongside the magazine in partnership with No Barriers. It provides travel scholarships for educational journeys for students from low-income backgrounds and for students with mixed abilities, sending more than 1,300 young people on trips to places including Cambodia, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Peru. The program reflects the founders' belief in travel as a force for personal transformation: Sullivan and Diaz have described travel not as glamorous escapism but as a way to seek meaning, purpose, and connection. More than 1,500 students have received life-changing experiences through the joint program with No Barriers Youth.

Travel Tales podcast and events

AFAR Media launched the Travel Tales podcast in July 2020, hosted by deputy editor Aislyn Greene, extending the brand's storytelling into audio. AFAR Experiences, the company's immersive travel event series, brings readers together with the brand's editors and travel experts for curated journeys and gatherings. Past initiatives have included AFAR in Residence and AFAR Conversations, formats that let the brand's community of travelers meet, learn, and plan trips together. These extensions turned a magazine audience into a membership-like community organized around shared travel values.

Editorial approach

AFAR's journalism is built around the premise that the best travel writing comes from genuine engagement with a place rather than from press trips and listicles. Its writers and photographers are sent to experience destinations the way the brand's readers aspire to: slowly, curiously, and through local eyes. The magazine's features have covered everything from remote cultural traditions to urban food scenes, always with an emphasis on the people who make a place distinctive. That approach won the brand a devoted readership among travelers who found the established travel glossies too focused on luxury consumption or generic sightseeing.

Audience and circulation

AFAR launched with a rate base of 50,000 for its first two issues, with plans to step up to 100,000 in 2010 and eventually 300,000. Published six times a year — a bimonthly frequency — the print magazine anchors a brand whose digital audience at afar.com reaches travelers planning experiential trips worldwide. The company's diversified platforms, from the scholarship program to the advisor network, give it touchpoints with travelers, students, and industry professionals alike.

Digital presence

Afar.com publishes the magazine's articles alongside daily travel news, destination guides, hotel and airline coverage, and practical planning content. The site extends the print brand's experiential philosophy to trip planning, helping readers translate inspiration into itineraries. AFAR Advisor, the B2B platform, connects the brand with travel advisors serving luxury and experiential clients, creating a commercial bridge between the magazine's editorial authority and the travel trade.

Recognition

AFAR has been recognized with awards in travel writing and journalism, including Lowell Thomas Awards, the travel industry's prestigious honors for outstanding travel journalism. Its founding story — two outsiders launching a print magazine during the worst advertising recession in living memory and succeeding — has been widely cited in media-industry coverage as an example of niche publishing done right: identify an unserved audience, serve it with conviction, and build a brand that extends beyond the page.

Challenges and outlook

AFAR's challenge, like that of every travel publisher, is the transformation of travel media by social platforms, influencers, and AI-assisted planning tools. Its answer has been to double down on the authority and community that a magazine brand can uniquely provide: expert journalism, curated experiences, scholarships that embody its values, and a trade platform that monetizes its influence. More than fifteen years after two entrepreneurs bet that travelers wanted something deeper than checklists, AFAR remains the clearest editorial voice for experiential travel in American media.