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EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WINNING FAMILY TRAVEL COMPETITIONS!

INSIDE: Roam the Gnome’s  Ultimate Guide on How to Win Family Travel Competitions. 

Want to Win a FREE holiday?

Hoping to win a trip to New York?

Are you desperate to win a trip to Italy to see long-lost family?

Or are you hoping to score the ultimate prize and win a trip to EUROPE for 6 weeks, all expenses paid? 

Triple your chances to win a vacation by entering MORE competitions.

A year or so ago, we won TWO trips in less than three months!

It’s POSSIBLE. 

Our experiences are proof.

There’s definitely luck involved, but winning a family holiday is also about:

  • creativity
  • serendipity, AND
  • being in the know.

Take a look at our competitions guide with tips on how to win FREE trips! 

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking on one of these links, we may receive a small commission at NO extra cost to you. 

how to win family travel competitions - hydro majestic high tea

We took our cousins along to enjoy the Hydro Majestic High Tea for four prize. The Blue Mountains, Australia.

Win Travel Competitions (or win FREE STUFF)

The first thing is to FIND a stack of family travel competitions (or competitions where you can win things of value that you can then sell to fund a family vacation!).

This is where many people trip up.

It’s easy to enter holiday competitions that come our way without any effort.

These are the competitions:

  • we see pop up in our facebook feed
  • or a sponsored giveaway hosted by someone we follow on Instagram.

But the trick to winning competitions is to think like a ‘comper’ and enter the obscure competitions.

Compers, those mystical people whose favorite hobby is to enter competitions, know THIS is the secret to winning good things, often. 

OBSCURE COMPETITIONS on smaller, less public blogs and websites mean less entries, simply because their audience is smaller, or their target market is harder to reach.

You might not win a holiday to Europe straight away, but you do have more of a chance to win:

  • a self-drive weekend getaway
  • flights to a local city combined with a fun hotel stay, or
  • a package of free entry to a bunch of local attractions.

Even better for those who truly want to win, MOST of these competitions have few barriers to entry.

bookmark your favorite travel competition websites pic by start up stock photos pexels

Image credit: Start up stock photos via Pexels  CC0 BY-1.0

Winning contests is a numbers game

Bookmark your favourite websites from the lists below, and check in once a week to see if they’ve uploaded any new travel competitions to enter

Sooner or later, depending on skill or luck, that super exciting email will slide on into your account (or you’ll take a random phone call) and you’ll join the ranks of prizewinners too.

It’s a NUMBERS GAME when you enter contests to win trips.

The most important thing to remember is that IT IS competition time, somewhere, EVERY SINGLE DAY.

One lucky person will win, that’s for certain.

The more competitions you enter, the better the chances it will be your turn. 

Hot tip: Enter more competitions, rather than one competition lots of times. 

win family travel competitions - rotorua duck tours ride 800

Rotorua Duck Tours, the best tours attraction tickets we’ve ever won!

Enter Competitions to Win Competitions! 

That is our motto.

Be IN IT to win it.

If you want to know how to win travel competitions, it’s that simple. 

There’s nothing to lose except a few minutes of your time (time you’d probably waste on social media in any case) so make your time work for you.

There’s lots to win, including:

  • luxury holidays with return airfares
  • 5 night holidays
  • grand prize trips with business class travel included
  • bike competitions to win cruiser bikes, win mountain bikes, & kids bikes you can use on travel adventures
  • cash prize competitions you can use for spending money
  • AND, more!

Follow our steps and become a winner too!

PIN ultimate guide to winning family travel competitions 800

Types of Holiday Travel Competitions to Win a Vacation

Here’s a list of the best types of contests to win stuff. 

We’ve listed ALL the different types of competitions you can find.

Work out what you like best, and find MORE of those. 

win scrabble letters

Image credit: PeakPx via CC0 BY-1.0

FREE COMPETITIONS GUIDE

Where to Find Family Holiday Competitions to Enter? 

This is the fun part.

Put on your Sherlock Holmes hat and come with me on a little adventure.

Hot tip: Keep in touch with your top competition websites by liking their facebook pages to find all their free travel competitions.  

win family travel competitions in bali pic by artem beliaikin pexels

Image credit: Artem Beliaikin via Pexels  CC0 BY-1.0

No.1: Win a Trip Competition Websites

The most obvious place to start is at competition directory such as:

These websites gather a huge list of current competitions in one place.

Bookmark these pages. 

It’s a good place to try and win a trip to Bali, or win a trip to Singapore. 

The problem with giveaway directories is that lazy compers head straight to these big mainstream sites, and enter competition, after competition, after competition. 

That means there’s more challengers in the count, the main reason we don’t just rely upon these sites to find new competitions going live.

But they do find some competition sources (or are alerted by the giveaway host) that you might not find so easily on your own hunts, so they are worth a quick look each week.

These catalog sites also categorise competitions:

  • by car
  • by vacation (eg Win a Trip to the USA, or Win a Trip to Peru)
  • by cash prizes
  • by tickets or gift vouchers etc

There are a LOT of travel competitions to win hotel accommodation, flights, & complimentary meals in these listings. 

Hot tip: Find the prizes you really, REALLY want, and enter those contests as your first priority. 

If you want to know where to find Holiday Competitions to enter, start here. 

american sweepstakes directories pic

American Sweepstakes Directories

Canada Contest Websites 

family travel competitions uk sites

UK Contest Websites 

Hot tip: Remember to google these phrases or similar too:

  • UK competitions ending soon
  • Canada competitions ending soon
  • USA sweepstakes ending soon

australia zoo bronze sculpture of family pic

Online Travel Competitions Australia

Australian Competition Directories

This is a collection of the top 11 places to find free online competitions in Australia to places like Australia Zoo, the Gold Coast theme parks, hotel stays and more.

Take a look: Best Aussie Comps directories round up

football stadium by jim bahn

Image credit: Jim Bahn via Flickr CC BY-2.0

Hot tip: Stay in the Game!

We LOVE winning tickets to events, to the cinema, to sports games, and especially VIP experiences.

These are easy quick wins, especially if you enter local comps on the radio or in your local newspaper.

These small wins keep us in the game, trying for the big ticket wins. 

We also save the money we would have spent if we were going to buy tickets to the event or show in any case.

These savings go straight into our Bucket List travel fund. 

We know people who enter all the competitions, then sell their prizes to FUND more of their dream travel too.

It’s another option!

win a car competition websites by jacob morch pexels

Image credit: Jacob Morch via Pexels  CC0 BY-1.0

No.2: Win a Car Competition Websites

Another good way to fund a vacation is by winning a car, and then selling it. 

The odds are better than winning the lottery or lotto, but it’s not a foolproof way of saving!

Still, can’t hurt to enter.

Here’s a few sites to start you off:

Win a Car USA

Win a Car UK

disney cruise line by jose a perez flickr

Image credit: Jose A. Perez via Flickr CC BY-2.0

No.3 Win a Cruise Sweepstakes

Win a Cruise America 

Click here to find a round up of the best cruise competitions in America.

Keep an eye on the Disney Cruise Line facebook page for newest cruise sweepstakes too!

Win a Cruise UK

Click here to find a collection of cruise contests in the UK. 

World of Cruises UK also has cruise giveaways from time to time. 

And don’t miss these Family Cruise competitions either. 

disney world animal kingdom with chip and dale

No. 4: Win Disney Contests

You may also find other well known companies and hotel brands giving away Disney vacations & Disney trips. 

Just in the past year, these well known brands have held a Disney contest with Disney vacations first prize:

  • Puma
  • Mattel
  • Joffrey’s
  • Babybel cheese
  • Ziploc 
  • Best Western
  • Woolworths Supermarkets Australia

disney wonder at port canaveral by rennett stowe

Image credit: Rennett Stowe via Flickr CC BY-2.0

Win a Disney Cruise Sweepstakes 

disney on ice show by hubert yu

Image credit: Hubert Yu via Flickr CC BY-ND 2.0

FREE Tickets for Disney musicals, Disney on Ice, Disney film releases

Hot tip: When Disney on Ice show, or a Disney Musical such as Frozen the Musical or the Aladdin musical comes to town, keep an eye on the popular local bloggers websites.

These local bloggers will often have low entry Disney on Ice competitions and the like, where you can win a family pass to enjoy all the fun and adventure! 

Same goes for NEWDisney movie releases. 

Google these phrases (and their variations) too:

  • “Disney World competition” or “Disney World sweepstakes” or “Win a Disney World vacation” 
  • “Disneyland competition” (and as above) 
  • “Disney contests and giveaways 2020”
  • “Disney World contests and sweepstakes”
  • “Disney contests Canada” (or your country) 
  • “Disney on Ice competition”, “Disney on Ice giveaway”,  “Disney on Ice contest” or “Disney on Ice sweepstakes” 

RELATED: Everything you need to know Guides:  Disney World & Disneyland California

Win travel competitions - Hells Gate Rotorua Spraying Pools 800

This is us at Hells Gate Geothermal Park in Rotorua New Zealand, one of our prizes. 

No.5: Win on Instagram 

Follow your favourite family travel influencers as they partner with brands and regularly offer chances to win the same experiences they’ve been lucky enough to enjoy.

It’s how we won our trip to Rotorua through Travel Mad Mum!

  • Travel Mad Mum
  • MumPackTravel
  • Y Travel Blog
  • Travel Babbo
  • FamilyTravel.com.au
  • The Blonde Nomads

Enter to Win Family Travel Competitions with Instagram giveaways

Also, search these hashtags: 

#win

#competition

#free

#giveaway

#giveaways

#prizes

#freestuff

#tagcontest

#followcontest

#travelcontest

# lucky

#chance

#luckydraw

#luckywinner

#sweepstakes

Search for Influencer Instagram Competitions

You can also do a Hashtag Search for “Travel” related feeds and follow the best Family Travel influencers

Hot tip: Be discriminate.

Take a quick look at their feeds to determine if they post sponsored content and giveaways before you press Follow.

family travel competitions newspaper comps

NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE COMPETITIONS

Local Newspaper Competitions 

Newspapers, both online and in hard copy, often have travel competitions to enter. 

They often feature prizes like overnight rail journeys across country, weekend pamper sessions at upmarket hotel and spas, and accommodation packages tied to new shows coming to town.

Bookmark the papers you like, and check in weekly.

American Newspaper giveaways & contests

Google to find competitions in these newspapers: 

  • USA today
  • The New York Times
  • The New York Post
  • Los Angeles Times
  • The Washington Post
  • Star Tribune
  • Newsday
  • Chicago Tribune
  • The Boston Globe

Search for other local newspapers in America here. 

Newspaper Competitions UK

family travel competitions magazine comps

Best Magazine Competitions

There are tonnes of mainstream and niche magazines with holiday competitions to enter.

Check out your local newsagent or library, and read the index page to see if they have a WIN page on their website.

If they do, take note and bookmark it. 

USA magazine contests 

Check out Good Housekeeping contests. 

There are good prizes here, including regular opportunities to WIN A TRIP TO DISNEY WORLD! 

Magazine competitions UK

These free online competitions have a huge range of prizes up for grabs! 

family travel competitions supermarket comps

Supermarket Magazine Competitions

Pick up your local grocery store magazine and scan it for competitions.

This is LOW HANGING FRUIT!

Enter them all. 

Supermarket Magazines UK

family travel competitions local radio comps

LOCAL RADIO STATION GIVEAWAYS AND COMPETITIONS 

You can also listen out for local radio contests & check out the websites of local radio stations too.  

This is where you’ll definitely find chances to win tickets to:

  • the movies
  • upcoming local events
  • musicals
  • theme parks
  • entry to one-off themed events during special holidays such as Christmas, Easter and Halloween,
  • and more. 

Radio station contests may also feature prizes like two nights mid-week accommodation as part of a marketing campaign for one of their advertisers.

These competitions have much less competition than national newspapers or nationally syndicated radio, and more chances to win!

These kinds of prizes let you explore your own city.

That’s as good as a holiday too!

USA radio contests

UK Radio competitions

Check out these UK radio station contests. 

Radio station competitions are no longer limited to phoning in at the right time either. The station may accept entries by email, text, tweets on Twitter, or through their website. 

Hip radio stations may ask you to share a pic on Instagram, complete with hashtags! 

How to win radio contests

We’ve won quite a few radio contests of late, including:

  • tickets for a seafood buffet lunch on a boat cruise, and
  • family pass tickets to see a sports game with free cotton candy and BBQ dinner too. 

Click the blue link for our hot tips on how to win radio tickets on the radio

family travel competitions tv station comps

TV Contest

Looking for TV contests and giveaways? Here’s a start.

These TV station contests offer a range of prizes from well known brands including Disney Parks. 

The best place to try is Breakfast TV contests in particular. 

America TV stations competitions

UK TV competitions

Canada TV contests

family travel competitions blog contests

OTHER WEBSITE CONTESTS 

Blog Contests & Giveaways 

Blog competitions are DEFINITELY the easiest way to win tickets for local events and entry to attractions across Australia.

Lots of companies and brands approach medium and big bloggers, invite them to launch events, and then partner with them so the bloggers showcase the event or attraction to their readers. This is very good news for us.

Enter ALL the blog competitions you can find.

I KNOW for a fact that lots of bloggers (even BIG bloggers) are having a harder and harder time attracting entries for their competitions, even when the prizes are worth hundreds of dollars.

People are busy, and unlike 5 or 10 years ago, rarely comment on blogs, or have a spare minute to do the thing the blogger requires you do to enter.

Get on it quick smart for quick wins.

Here’s a list of blog giveaways, including:

  • low entry blog giveaways (our favorite kind) and
  • low entry rafflecopter giveaways.  

Best American Mom Blogger Giveaways

Best UK Mum Bloggers Giveaways

Follow these top Mum Blogs on their facebook pages and Instagram to keep in the loop.

If you don’t already, follow your favourite bloggers on Instagram, and Facebook (and think about joining their groups too).

image - BEST FAMILY TRAVEL WEBSITES

Best Family Travel Websites

Sign up to their newsletters to find out about upcoming competitions.

Some of them require you to book an overnight stay at a hotel brand chain or , or visit somewhere to be in the running, but many don’t. 

UK Family Travel Websites

USA Family Travel Websites

best competition websites local parenting

Parenting Websites (Kids Competitions)

When you are planning a holiday to a new destination, look up their local kids magazines and websites in your destination city, and enter all the comps offering free entry to local attractions.

There’s also usually kids competitions too. 

A win gives you a few more dollars for souvenirs!

Enter to Win Family Travel Competitions with Timeout

Travel Magazines

All these travel magazines host regular monthly competitions, both in the published edition from the newsstand, and via their website. 

Best American Travel Magazines

  • Budget Travel
  • Afar
  • Travel and Leisure
  • Conde Nast Traveler 
  • Islands
  • Cruise Travel
  • Caribbean Travel and Life
  • Destinations
  • Pathfinders Travel
  • Cabin Life
  • American Road
  • Time Out 

Best UK Travel Magazines

  • National Geographic Traveller
  • Discover Britain
  • Wanderlust
  • Practical Motorhome
  • Lonely Planet Traveller
  • Time Out UK

Don’t forget to check your favorite inflight travel magazines for competitions too!

qantas plane by ed g

Image credit: Ed G via Flickr CCBY-ND 2.0

Win a Trip Overseas through Airline Sweepstakes

Sign up for their newsletters, and google their Inflight Magazines to find current comps too.

Some of our favourites airlines include:

  • Qantas
  • Cathay Pacific
  • Singapore Air
  • Virgin Airlines
  • Swiss Air
  • Lufthansa
  • British Airways
  • Hawaiian airlines
  • Air New Zealand
  • Emirates
  • Ethihad Airways

Travel Agencies, Booking Operators & Brands

Sign up to your favourite travel companies for a chance to win big epic prizes in their travel contests.

Think:

  • travel insurance companies
  • money exchange companies
  • travel agencies
  • cruise agencies

hard rock hotel bali foyer pic 800

Best Hotels & Resorts around the world 

Individual hotel chains and boutique hotels usually have an email list you can subscribe to. 

They host competitions from time to time for their subscribers.

Note that you may need to sign up to the correct newsletter for your country, state or region. 

  • Wyndham Vacations Hotel Group
  • Novotel
  • Loews Hotels
  • Universal Hotels 
  • Marriott International
  • Hard Rock Hotels
  • Intercontinental
  • Hilton
  • Four Seasons
  • Accor Group
  • Hyatt
  • Conrad Hotels
  • Best Western
  • Starwood Hotels and Resorts
  • Ritz Carlton
  • Radisson Hotels
  • Mantra Hotels
  • QT Hotels (Australia)

portofino hotel at universal studios orlando by osseous

Portofino Hotel Universal Studios Orlando – Image credit: Osse0us via Flickr CC BY- 2.0

Best Family Hotels in America

Plus sign up to the newsletters of all your favourite family hotel destinations.

And then enter ALL the competitions! 

  • Disney’s Deluxe Resort Hotels (Disney World)
  • Disneyland Hotels
  • Disney Aulani in Hawaii
  • Club Med
  • Loews Hotels
  • Universal Studios Hotels
  • Legoland Hotels USA (Can also subscribe to Legoland Hotels around the world – UK, Malaysia, Denmark, Germany)
  • Great Wolf Lodge
  • Kalahari Resorts

ploughmans lunch at the gallery cafe

The Ploughmans lunch at the Gallery Cafe, part of the prize we won thanks to Blue Mountains Attractions Group

Destination Marketing & Local Tourism Boards

Our last competition success prize included:

  • two nights accommodation at Jungle Lodge in the Blue Mountains Botanical Gardens in Australia (sleeping up to 10 people, so we took Grandma, Aunty Patty, Cousin Brooke, and cousins Imy and Holly with us) 
  • $120 to spend on lunch at the Blue Mountains Art Gallery
  • two annual family passes to the National Trust, and
  • tickets for 4 adults to enjoy High Tea at the iconic Hydro-Majestic hotel.

A win valued at over $1500, courtesy of Blue Mountains Attraction Group via a 25 words or less competition.

Read all about it here. (Coming soon)


RELATED: Helpful Guide on How to Win 25 Words or Less Competitions 

jungle lodge blue mountains pic

Our Jungle Lodge accommodation in the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden 

Subscribe to Destination Marketing newsletters

We strongly encourage you to sign up for emails from:

  • Local Destination Marketing Organisations in your local city 
  • State Tourism Marketing Boards 
  • Tourism marketing bodies in the cities and countries you plan to visit (Visit Japan, Visit Thailand)
  • Local travel guides and operators in your city, and in your next holiday destination too  
  • Small accommodation providers who join forces to create a tourism collaboration group
  • Visitor Information Centres
  • Airport Newsletters (Changi is a must!)
  • Airport transportation newsletters (eg Airtrain) 
  • Large Shopping Malls & well known Department stores 
  • Combined Tourism Operators in the city (eg when tourism operators join forces and make an over-arching body to keep everyone in the loop)  
  • Travel Expos – Visit these in person to find more competitions to enter, & sign up to hear about Industry Nights

Once you’ve found your favourite Destination Marketing organisations (above), LIKE their FB pages too.

Enter to Win Family Travel Competitions with Anaconda

Win Travel Goods

Don’t forget the Travel Goods store newsletters too.

They run comps for travel goods regularly, plus offer the odd trip.

  • American Tourister
  • Samsonite
  • Antler
  • Other favourite suitcase brands
  • Pacsafe smart travel gear
  • Trunki children’s suitcases
  • Container Store
  • Eagle Creek 
  • Montblanc 

ikea logo

Check out the Big Company Brands

Check out the big companies we all know and love.

The ones you hear advertised on the radio or in full page ads in the paper.

Be sure to throw your net wide and take a look at all kinds of businesses for travel competitions, not just the obvious ones with connection to travel. 

  • Telecommunications companies (A T&T, Verizon, Comcast) 
  • Electric Companies
  • Famous furniture stores like IKEA
  • Fox sports
  • Florists (eg  honeymoon competitions)
  • Expos, Conventions and Tradeshows 

travel writing competitions pic

Travel Writing Competitions

Last but not least, you can try to win a trip by entering Travel writing competitions to win a free holiday in Australia, or perhaps win a trip overseas.

This is one competition where talent overrides luck.

If writing is your thing, join the fun!

  • NatGeo
  • Lonely Planet
  • Australian Writers Centre

image - Rovaniemi Santa Claus Main Office photo HOME PAGE

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