Business Insider Article on Lonely Planet Guidebooks

NYC Librarian, I do agree with you about guidebooks. That's why I prefer the ones from here, or Rough Guides or Bradts.

FYI, the link to the article has a paywall, so it's not accessible.

Sorry for the paywall, Mardee! I was able to read it freely, so I thought it would work. Maybe this link will work?

That second link worked for me, and thank you very much for the enlightening article. I’ve sensed that the latest Lonely Planet guidebooks were different, but this helps explain how and why that’s happening. A couple of notable things from the article:

Pauline Frommer, the editorial director of the Frommers guidebook brand, says. "There has been a certain segment of the population turning back to the traditional sources because there's been this insane flood of crap on the internet."

Rick Steves’ books are still providing the useful content they’ve always had, in the same format. His books have gotten thicker, as more destinations and details get added, not less, like Lonely Planet. He’s got more pictures than 20 years ago, but they’re still limited, and his are not photo brochures. And having a company that operates tours and sells travel merchandise, not just printing guidebooks, lets him profit from that diversification.

a lot of people are recognizing that a lot of what they read online is simply disguised marketing

Businesses need to produce income to stay in business. But stealth marketing is ultimately a losing business model, at least for travelers who want more than simply recreating an Instagram photo they’ve seen, taking theirs at the same place as the original, and striking the same pose. If that’s a bucket list item, it seems the bucket is a garbage pail.

Times have gotten tough for Lonely Planet. But they’re suffering, as are readers who rely on them for useful travel information. The maps in the newest editions are particularly useless, missing key cities, sights, and often some of the limited lodging and eating recommendations that are mentioned in nearby pages. And the map scale is also a problem, zoomed in too close or zoomed out so far as to be unhelpful for planning or for getting around.

“TrovaTrip, which enlists influencers as tour guides to paying travelers selected from their audiences.”

Wow Rick Steve’s competition. This is a new low in travel.

In addition to RS books, Michelin green guidebooks, still has great information but no glossy photos or info on public transportation since it was founded by a tire company. I just bought the Provence book even though I live only two hours away.

RS sells Lonely Planet guidebook.

I was thinking about that Frommer quote that Cyn added in her comment. By coincidence I picked up the latest Frommer's London book from the library recently and I was very impressed. My first impression was that it's a nicer looking version of the RS guidebooks with some rock solid practical information that I could previously only find in the RS books.

I agree with the Frommer quote that there is too much crap online. Just this morning I was reading an article about alternatives to the blockbuster sites in France, but as I went through it it reminded me of a post a few months ago from someone that had had a conversation with someone at a party that was a travel blogger but was writing about places they'd never been.

I'm with you Allan. I mean, I look at stuff online, but I still want a good (RS!) guidebook. I want to be able to read about the big picture and see maps of how everything fits together, and then dive down deeper into certain sections.

Thanks for sharing NYC Librarian.

Thank you NYC Librarian for the link and head's up. Interesting article.

I had to laugh though that the "influencer" who's turned from food to travel had never heard of Lonely Planet Guidebooks. Yeesh....I hope I still have a few good travel years left!!

Very interesting article. I haven't bought an actual guidebook in years, just kind of recycle through them with my Kindle Unlimited subscription. But Lonely Planet is one of my usual go-tos. I came across recent LP editions and thought they were majorly lacking compared to earlier. Now I know why.

I'm glad to see that Elizabeth was able to get a recent Green Guide. I had thought that they had stopped publishing. I looked at getting one for Netherlands just a couple of weeks ago but Amazon was only carrying a very few very old used Green Guides for anywhere....

Hope I can find what I'm looking for.

Thanks, NYC LIbrarian! The second link worked for me! Very interesting (and sort of sad) article. As I mentioned above, I do think there are still some good guidebooks out there like Rough Guides, Bradt Travel Guides (which focus on really out-of-the way places) and Rick Steves of course.

I've gotten some Frommer's books from Libby and found them helpful but I usually turn to Rough Guides (and Bradt, depending on the destination). And I like Rick Steves' books, but they are much more curated than others, so if your destinations are way off the beaten path, you probably won't find them in his book.

With regards to Lonely Planet, I would borrow them from Libby or Amazon when I had a free Kindle Unlimited subscription, but eventually realized that I wasn't getting anything useful out of them, so I finally quit that.

Used to be, information on these subjects was more valuable. Thus the guidebooks.

Now, as Rick says, the Internet makes travel much more convenient. As well as making the information that is necessary to do it, cheap/free. Thus the effect(s) you see.

corollary:

As the information becomes cheap/free

=> flood of misinformation mixed in because that is cheap to do (ex: Travel writer that never been to what they reviewed)

=> curated sources like Rick's (or others) become valuable for that reliability rather than just the needed travel information. Though that's still there.