This week's Economist notes why guidebooks are still a useful tool, https://www.economist.com/culture/2024/06/27/why-travel-guidebooks-are-not-going-anywhere.
Quick sound bite:
I can’t help people that just want to do what everybody else does, Mr. Steves says
I cannot open the article without creating a “free account” but I get the gist, and agree with what (I think) it says.
Instagram, TikTok, etc. have created a hunger to see certain popular sites, and it has pretty much ruined tourism in some areas. Everyone who follows those internet sites and sees beautiful photos wants to “go there”, without any guidance on what is really involved.
Here where I live in Washington State, the result of the many photos posted on Instagram of beautiful lakes like Colchuck has led to a near-impossible situation—-too many people, many of them unfit, or untrained, or unfamiliar with wilderness hiking ethics, showing up and trying to park in a small lot already filled when they arrive. The result during and after the pandemic has been chaos—people parking along the narrow dirt road, blocking the road itself. Elsewhere it is long lines—-2 hours or more—-at the entrance stations for many national parks. We have reservations for a HIgh Sierra Camp in Yosemite in 2 weeks, and it comes with the required entry permit, but I am dreading the long line at the entrance station—-mostly people who have no clue they needed a reservation to enter the park. They saw a photo on Instagram, or read a bog by an “ influencer”, and wanted to go—-without any preparations whatsoever. And they will be turned away at the gate when they make it to the front of the line, but in the meantime they will clog the line and cause delays for everyone else who took the time to read up on park entrance requirements.
On Tripadvisor forums, one of our most helpful “Destination Experts” for Olympic National Park answers every question about visiting there with “start with a guidebook”. And plan from there, not from Instagram photos.
Over and over we have seen too many itineraries for Europe, and specifically for Switzerland, driven by this internet-fueled desire to “see it all” and “FOMO”. Or they see photos of the Tre Cime and Lago Braies in the Dolomites and think they can check both off their list in one day. The reality is that the parking lot for the Tre Cime trailhead is at the end of a controlled -access road; there is a toll to drive the road, and when the parking lot is filled (usually by 9 or 10 am) they close the tollgate and no one can get in until the early arrivals finish their hike and depart. The resulting line can be 2 hours long or more. Yet there are so many equally stunning places in the Dolomites to see, without the Instagram fame. Let’s keep it that way.
People have been misled into thinking it is easy to visit these popular places. As someone below so aptly said, “all you need is a few clicks and a ticket”. That is, unfortunately, wrong, but the overcrowding resulting from the false impressions created by Instagram et al. is ruining the travel experience for others who do their homework and prepare properly. I am, honestly, feeling worn out with trying to help people create a more realistic itinerary, with “less is more”.
We subscribe to the Economist print magazine, so I will look for the article.
I was able to find the article here and I think I was able to read it all before it asked me to sign up for a free trial: https://www.pressreader.com/singapore/the-business-times/20240706/281809994104805
I am, honestly, feeling worn out with trying to help these people create a more realistic itinerary, with “less is more”.
I commiserate. I have asked people here on the Forum over-and-over “Do you have a guidebook?” Or something to that effect. When we travel somewhere new, we often don’t know what we don’t know.
Well, I am certainly helping the cause with the number of guide books I buy! It indeed is unfortunate that the Instagram and TikTok crowd have tried to dumb down travel to a few clicks and a ticket. I enjoy planning via the tactile feel of paper, the intuitive way I flag interesting sites to visit and match up on maps. And the character and focus of each book series (brand) provides a different viewpoint to the destination, thus I end up with a couple for each trip, based on the style of travel for that tour. Long live printed books.
From the Economist article:
A more dramatic adaptation is visible in the newest editions of Lonely Planet’s flagship guides, which look like someone printed out an Instagram account.
Yep. The new Lonely Planet guides are pretty useless. They’ve stripped out all the practical info and replaced them with photos and aspirational text. When I went to New Zealand, I ended up getting the old LP editions from the library because the new edition was just useless for planning. LP used to be my go-to for places outside of Europe but I am not going to waste any money buying their new editions.
They can be easier to browse than social media, websites or e-books
-- quote from the Economist article
I read Rick's books and any others travel books or ebooks I can access through my local library or Prime Reading for trip planning. I also do Google searches, browse Google Maps, ask Chat GPT to write itineraries for me and visit travel or special interest websites and blogs. I watch YouTube videos and follow relevant groups on Instagram.
OK, maybe I over plan and over research (my wife thinks so!). But I find that no one source is sufficient. For example, I am traveling to Germany in August and want to visit a number of abbey breweries. I have yet to find a single source that is mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive regarding abbey-brewed beers in Germany.
Only slightly off topic:
A 10 y/o boy died last week on a Phoenix hiking trail. His tourist parents thought it was a good idea to hike on a 114* afternoon. How stupid can people be!!
Horsewoofie - that is so incredibly sad.
@jkh: your single source for abbey breweries in Bavaria ;-)
That child dying in AZ was so tragic. At least when adults fall off cliffs while posing for their social media account it was their decision...
Anyway, I appreciate the RS walking tours from his books and use them often. This was the case for Wengen, as I looked for a certain overlook and tree stump. It was a mostly cloudy day and watching the clouds move up and down from the viewpoint, once found, was mesmerizing. There was just me and a serious photographer with a whole lot of lenses and equipment.
Suddenly the skies cleared and the dramatic mountains came into view. From seemingly nowhere at least a dozen young women showed up (but not traveling together) in billowy skirts and lots of makeup and climbed up on the stump to pose with outstretched arms...
They didn't even look at the gorgeous view while waiting, but were adjusting makeup. (Thankfully I have the Google erase feature on my phone for my own pic!)
Maybe it's akin to being trapped in days of yore with a family member or friend showing you their travel movies or photo albums? Also technology has made it so easy vs waiting to get picture developed, etc.
The lack of utilizing guide books is evident on some of the FB travel groups. The same itinerary shows up again and again and I am sometimes left wondering if folks have read up a bit on the destination to see if there is something not in the ‘top 5’ sights that might interest them more. Also knowing how to navigate the logistics of a place (how to use transit etc) can make a big difference on a trip and a guide book usually brings all of that together. But maybe it’s a generation/age thing?
I've bought and used ATC guidebooks for hiking, for the information on water sources, elevation and mileage data and the included trail map. Otherwise I've never used a guidebook for travel. No deep criticism, but the couple l thumbed through just didn't fit how I enjoy my travel. I have a strong preference for going straight to the primary sources and I'd rather not filter information through secondary sources or what third parties consider to be important.
I’m on several Facebook travel groups and it’s amazing the stupid questions that people ask and the lack of information have because the only place we go for information is social media. Which means they get to a country and are on Facebook at the airport. How do I get to my hotel? I don’t know what to do here
But if you suggest they could read a guidebook you are vicious? mean and rude. So I just read and laugh
Just today I saw one. “. I’m going to London, what is there to do? “. Why did you decide to go to London? Bizarre.
I don't do social media and don't have any accounts, but on the outside looking in they seem to just become a boogeymen. I see little difference between Facebook/Instagram, forums, or one's own local social groups. I see the issue more that not everyone learns to be skeptical, learn to craft questions or what questions need to be asked, learn how to effectively use resources and we all tend to act on emotional whims.
I don't know that there is a good solution aside from thorough research using multiple sources.
I do mostly trust RS, but I'm looking that the map that was included in my Germany guide and wondering what collective braintrust decided that a city map of two Austrian cities (Vienna and Salzburg) have any value to me for my trip planning?
What were they thinking? Why not Prague? It's also close by.
It makes no sense.
Yep. The new Lonely Planet guides are pretty useless. They’ve stripped out all the practical info and replaced them with photos and aspirational text.
I noticed that recently, when I was leafing through the Lonely Planet Norway book that my son-in-law got for his trip. Hardly any restaurants and hotels, and the info that was there was miniscule. One of the listed hotels had extremely bad reviews on Google, so it obviously wasn't researched thoroughly.
I still like Rough Guides, even though the original owner is gone. But at least it's owned by Insight Guides, another travel book publisher. And I think that Bradt books are still independently owned by the original family.
By the way, for anyone who likes to read stuff like this but doesn't want to register for a free account, just create a new email address specifically for stuff like this.
If you have a Google account, you can create as many new accounts as you like and each has their own storage capacity. So just make a new account and use it for reading articles and so on. I have one for all my German stuff, one for the university classes I take, one for all my photos, and my main one for family/friends and stuff like this.
Guidebook lover here. Reading a guidebook (almost always Rick's) and marking pages with tape flags is one of the most fun parts of travel planning.
I use other sources too, but I really like Rick's guidebooks for all the practical advice they give, like paying for and riding transit, tips for getting the most out of a city pass, etc., and for the amount of history he adds to his write ups. I often don't follow his suggested itineraries or agree that his 'must sees' are mine, but they are a great place to start.
The last time I used a Lonely Planet guide was pre-pandemic, when we went to Vancouver. I found it somewhat useless even then, especially compared to Rick's.
I'll always suggest as politely as I can to people who clearly haven't done any research, that they start with a good guidebook.
Trotter, thank you for posting this.
I was able to access the article through my public library online.
I started travelling when the only resource WAS a guidebook so I admit it, I'm hooked. Can't travel without one, although I take everything in it with a grain of salt.
We're almost at the point on this forum where the webmaster should create a macro that screams BUY THE BOOK when people ask really vague, open-ended questions like What should I do in France?
Another thing to consider, before we come down too hard on Tiktokers and Instagrammers, ever since there have been tourists with guidebooks there have been complaints about how they all go to the same places and eat at the same places all while holding the book up to their nose. All the way back to Baedeker back in the 1830s.
Cmon now, who doesn't look around at a popular site to see how many people are holding a RS guide? I certainly am.
As for the complaint about having Austria information in a German guidebook, Salzburg and Munich these days almost seem to be considered the same metroplex for travellers so the overlap makes sense.
MarkK
Thank you!
@jkh: your single source for abbey breweries in Bavaria ;-)
Trotter,
I have kept most of my guidebooks, some for their "historical" interest, sometimes as an aide-memoire or a souvenier, but sometimes for information and recommendations that are not found in the newer books. For example, when planning a trip to show some family members around the northern part of France in 2017, I went through my 1995 Frommer book on France. In it I came across info about the Route des Abbayes. It shaped our drive from Rouen to Bayeux and made for a memorable day, driving along the Seine, past Villequier, and visiting Jumiege. Surprisingly I had never heard of this route, but am so glad I found Frommer's reference to it.
I still refer to guidebooks for suggestions of things to see, places to sleep and eat, and routes to drive. I flesh these ideas out with comments on this forum and with articles I have saved over time. (I have a two drawer file cabinet with newspaper articles about travel....I really need to clean it out!) Needless to say, using only online influencers and commentators limits a person's options to make the most of a trip, so even though some info may be outdated, it can be useful and enjoyable to read those older guidebooks.
I love guidebooks, but some are better than others of course. I never take them with me. I used to tear out the pages I needed and would take those, but now I just take screen shots of the stuff I need and have that in an album on my phone.
IME brands of guidebooks vary quite a bit. The RS book I have for Iceland is the first edition, 2018, but it completely leaves off Snaefellsness and the Westfjords, which make up a large part of the country. That is insane! I have had good luck with other RS books though. For Iceland, I found the Lonely Planet books the best. They have now partnered with Jeannie from Iceland With A View to collaborate with them, which was smart as she is a wealth of information. LP's ring road book is the best out there, IMO.
I just received the new RS Scandinavia guidebook in the mail today. My husband says I still react like Christmas morning every time one them arrives. Love my guidebooks.
@mikliz97
Was your Lonely Planet Iceland published before 2023 or after?
There was a drastic change in the LP format around 2023. I have found the new ones nothing like the old versions in terms of quality of information. I haven’t looked at the Iceland book.
My Iceland books from LP were published before that, but Jeannie's contributions are for the new books.
For Iceland, I found the Lonely Planet books the best. They have now
partnered with Jeannie from Iceland With A View to collaborate with
them, which was smart as she is a wealth of information.
I'm not sure about this. I have the newest Lonely Planet Iceland book and was disappointed to find that she is not one of the 4 authors for the book. Maybe she is involved in future editions.
Carrie--Yes, she just announced it a few months ago so it is not published just yet:)
I really wish I had saved my old Access guides from the late 90's and early 2000's. I loved the block-by-block format of different areas in major cities. I can't imagine that level of detail in a more current guidebook. Even when I lived in San Francisco, I was constantly referring to the Access San Francisco guidebook. No photos, but great maps.
I love the "ancient" Cadogan guides for their humor and opinions and the kind of interesting quirky details that most guidebooks don't have. Probably have to be purchased online second-hand.
I like DK guides, maybe more for reading ahead of time than actually trip planning, they offer up things like a cross section drawing of a functioning castle. Appeals to my inner geek
I always get lots of guidebooks from the library when I first start to plan a trip.
I don’t take them with me anymore , but I feel they really get you excited and interested in what is to come on a trip.
I also loved the Access guides, I think I still have one from the 90’s for NYC.
I do like the DK ones for the little walking routes they show.
I think people nowadays want everything instantly, hence the “couple of clicks and off we go”.
Like the person on another forum , not here, who wanted to know if they could use Euros in Canada.
For a trip that was already booked.
