Andy Hayes

Andy Hayes (Andrew) (born 1977) is a published travel writer and travel industry entrepreneur from Oregon State, United_States, known internationally as that travel guy. His views on travel and the need for vacations as part of a healthy lifestyle have been featured in a number of publications, such as the Wall Street Journal, CNN, and the National Geographic Traveler He is well regarded as an expert on online travel and a go-to resource for pairing travelers and ideal destinations; Finger Lakes Community College called him a "young Internet star" and he is listed as one of the top 50 online influencers in travel.

Life and career

In 2008, leaving behind a corporate career in the software industry, Hayes launched the first "travel lifestyle magazine" called Sharing Travel Experiences. At the same time he launched a travel marketing consultancy, Travel Online Partners. There he co-authored a book with Kelly Erickson called "Why Your Website Sucks", currently the only guide to usability testing available for tourism organizations.

In the fall of 2009, he published the print guide, Historic Walking to Guide to Edinburgh. which was later released in a mobile format onto the iPhone.

Hayes now runs a network of businesses under the brand Hayes Media Group, which include sites related to small business entrepreneurship, Christmas travel, travel website design, and other tourism-related products/services. He is often a featured speaker at tourism and technology conferences in both the United States, United Kingdom and elsewhere such as the Travel Blog Exchange and Blogworld.