Your trusted companion for authentic, immersive travel experiences since 2019. ViaTravelers is an independent travel media company publishing destination guides across six continents.
Our Story
What is ViaTravelers?
ViaTravelers is an expert travel media company founded in 2019 by Kyle Kroeger — a Purdue University graduate and former finance professional — during an inspiring journey through Italy. The name “Via” — meaning “street” in Italian — reflects the core philosophy that true travel means immersing yourself in local culture, wandering beyond tourist hotspots, and discovering the hidden gems that make each destination genuinely unique.
What began as a personal observation — that few travel sites captured the authentic essence of experiencing a place like a local — has grown into a global destination directory, editorial library, and set of planning tools. ViaTravelers continues to help modern explorers compare trip fit and plan more deliberately.
Today, Kyle is based in Amsterdam, Netherlands — after formative years in Minneapolis, USA, and Italy. His firsthand experience across 15+ countries on 4 continents, including 30+ US states and 20+ national parks, informs his own published work and the editorial direction of the site.
Our Mission
ViaTravelers helps travelers discover authentic local experiences — from hidden city gems to off-grid destinations — through expert destination guides, cultural insights, and practical trip-planning advice that goes beyond the tourist trail.
Whether you are planning your first international trip or your fiftieth, our guides combine available editorial research with destination data to help you compare options, identify open questions, and plan more deliberately.
- Expert destination guides across six continents
- Named contributors and source context where available
- Authentic cultural immersion over tourist-trail itineraries
- Sustainable travel practices that benefit local communities
Our Values
We believe in responsible, sustainable travel that benefits both visitors and local communities. With 84% of global travelers saying sustainability is important to them (Statista, 2025), these values are not niche — they are the future of how the world travels.
- Authentic Local Experiences — We go beyond guidebook recommendations to connect travelers with the real heartbeat of each destination.
- Community Connection — We champion community-based tourism that flows economic benefits directly to local residents and small businesses.
- Sustainable Travel — We advocate for low-impact travel choices — from carbon offsetting to eco-certified accommodations and responsible wildlife tourism.
- Continuous Learning — We use publication dates, available source notes, reader feedback, and editorial review to prioritize guide updates. Readers can report corrections when local conditions change.
Our Expertise
| Expertise Area | Scale | Methodology | Industry Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| Destination Guides | Published destination directory | CMS data + documented editorial review | Covers destinations spanning 1,248 UNESCO World Heritage Sites across 170 countries |
| Travel Planning | Published planning resources | Source records + documented editorial review | Serving a $1.9T international tourism market (UN Tourism, 2025) |
| Local Insights | Published contributor profiles | Named authors + available biography fields | Supporting 1.52B international travelers annually |
| Travel Photography | Editorial image library | Credits and source records where available | Visual-first content for modern discovery |
| Planning Tools | Budget, packing, itinerary, and comparison utilities | User inputs + published destination fields | Turns published travel data into practical planning steps |
Destination Guides
The published destination directory covers city trips, beach vacations, adventure travel, and lesser-known places. Each guide surfaces the geography, planning fields, and editorial details currently available from its source record.
Travel Planning
Data-backed advice on best travel windows, visa requirements, budget estimates, and itinerary structure. Each surface is limited to the current source fields and implemented calculations rather than implying unavailable live inventory.
Local Insights
Recommendations draw from named contributors, destination records, and cited references where available. Author biographies and update dates make the visible evidence explicit instead of implying the same review method for every guide.
Our Team
Kyle Kroeger — Founder & Editor-in-Chief
A passionate traveler and former finance professional, Kyle founded ViaTravelers in 2019 after an immersive journey through Italy revealed a gap: most travel sites lacked the authentic, locally-rooted insight real travelers need. A Purdue University graduate, Kyle’s reporting includes travel across 15+ countries on 4 continents, 30+ US states, and 20+ national parks. His travel photography supports the site’s firsthand destination coverage.
His expertise in authentic destination discovery and travel planning has been featured in Forbes Travel and Condé Nast Traveler. Currently based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Kyle continues to document the world’s most compelling destinations firsthand.
Profiles: Personal Site · LinkedIn · Instagram
Our Contributors
Contributor profiles identify the WordPress author role, biography, articles, and documented specialties or credentials that are available for that person. Missing fields are omitted rather than inferred.
- Roles — Derived from the contributor’s published WordPress account
- Experience — Shown only when documented in the contributor biography
- Articles — Associated with the contributor’s current WordPress author record
- Corrections — Readers can report issues through the editorial corrections policy
Want to write for us? Join our team as a contributor.
Join Our Community
Connect with fellow travelers, share experiences, and read published travel tips and planning insights.
Global tourism reached a record 1.52 billion international travelers in 2025 — generating $1.9 trillion in tourism receipts — within a travel industry valued at over $10.6 trillion (UN Tourism, 2025). With 84% of travelers now prioritizing sustainable, authentic experiences and online searches for “sustainable travel” up 108% in two years, community-driven insights have never been more valuable.
Looking ahead, international tourism is projected to grow 3–4% in 2026, with 58% of industry experts forecasting better performance than 2025. The global ecotourism market alone reached $279 billion in 2025 and is on track to nearly double by 2029 — proof that travelers increasingly seek authentic, sustainable experiences over mass-market itineraries.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who founded ViaTravelers?
ViaTravelers was founded by Kyle Kroeger, a Purdue University graduate and former finance professional, during a journey through Italy in 2019. His reporting includes travel across 15+ countries on 4 continents, 30+ US states, and 20+ national parks.
What does ViaTravelers cover?
ViaTravelers publishes destination guides across six continents, along with local travel context, cultural immersion tips, planning advice, and sustainable travel resources.
When was ViaTravelers founded?
ViaTravelers was founded in 2019 in Italy. The name “Via” comes from the Italian word for “street,” reflecting the philosophy of exploring destinations as a local — wandering off tourist paths to discover the authentic essence of each place.
What is ViaTravelers’ mission?
ViaTravelers’ mission is to transform how people experience world travel by connecting travelers with authentic local experiences, hidden gems, and cultural immersion opportunities. The platform emphasizes sustainable travel practices that benefit both visitors and local communities.