Is it possible to revive an old Instagram account after multiple niche changes?

I'm looking for some honest feedback from people who understand social media because I feel like I'm stuck.

A bit of background: I started on Instagram years ago as a model. As my interests changed, I transitioned into fitness content, and now I've fully pivoted into travel. The problem is that every time I've changed niches, engagement has dropped. Over the last 3–4 years, it's gotten to the point where my account barely reflects its follower count.

I currently have around 213k followers, but I don't really care about that number anymore. I'd rather have 20k people who genuinely enjoy my content than 200k ghosts.

For the past month, I've been posting consistently again (mostly Reels), testing hooks, storytelling, and trying to make content that's actually valuable instead of just pretty travel videos. Engagement has improved slightly, but it's still nowhere near where I think it should be.

My end goal isn't just to get views—it's to build a sustainable travel creator business. I want to monetize through brand deals, hotel collaborations, tourism boards, affiliate income, and digital products. Right now, though, I'm struggling to land partnerships because my engagement doesn't match my follower count.

So I have a few questions:

• If you inherited an account like this, what would you do?
• Should I keep trying to revive this account, or would you seriously consider starting over?
• Is there anything specific that works well for travel creators in 2026?
• How much does follower count actually matter compared to engagement when pitching brands?
• If you've successfully revived a "dead" account, what made the biggest difference?

I'm open to brutally honest feedback. If my content is the problem, tell me. If my positioning is off, tell me. If there's something obvious I'm missing, I'd genuinely appreciate hearing it.

Thanks in advance!