Travel

#Where now for the travel guide book?

With Lonely Planet laying off dozens of staff, Jolyon Attwooll considers whether there is a future for the traditional travel companion.

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22 Jul 2013

22 Jul 2013

Whatever the outcome of the upheaval at Lonely Planet, there is no doubt the traditional guidebook market is under intense pressure. Last year, AA Publishing confirmed it was no longer commissioning printed travel guides. In February this year, the trade magazine The Bookseller reported a 41 per cent decline in the travel print categories in the last five years, although it did highlight some standout successes , including the Lonely Planet guides to Thailand and Australia.

Ben Box, author of the South American Handbook, now about to mark its 90th edition, insists there is life in the travel guide book yet , although he did acknowledge the internet had widened the scope for recommendations enormously.

On the evidence of my latest trip the majority of travellers carry a tablet, notebook computer or smartphone, he said.

Frequently the computer sits beside a guidebook the two go hand-in-hand. People still need solid reliable and well researched information how they choose to carry that information is individual choice.

He also highlighted practical concerns for travellers heading to remoter places.

Do you really want to risk your expensive tablet or phone in the damp Peruvian jungle or dusty altiplano? And what happens when the batteries fail, or there is no WiFi or internet?

Donald Strachan, Telegraph Travel s specialist in technology and new media, said speculation about the future of printed guidebooks was misleading.

Guides come at us from all directions these days: smartphone apps, emailed to us before a holiday by a villa company or airline, are all over the internet," he said. "That is a massive market. It's also (unlike paper books) a growing market.

He agreed that travellers' need for reliable information was not something that would fade anytime soon.

The key questions are how to deliver it across multiple platforms, and how to make it pay," he added. "I suspect that's what the changes at Lonely Planet are about. Nobody buys a company for £50million just to close it down.