Will Covid make previous guides obsolete?

Back in the late 1980s, I planned a trip to Germany using some of the guide books available at the time. I think Baedecker was one of them for information about places; I used Michelin guide to find accommodations.

Since my return to Europe in 2000, I have relied heavily on the Internet, with some use of Rick's guide books, as my resource for finding interesting places and booking accommodations.

So, I guess the changes resulting from the pandemic won't change my MO very much.

I see this changing drastically, where guidebooks printed before 2020,
and advice from travelers who visited a place prior to that year, will
be obsolete within the next year or so.

Guidebooks for the last 10 years have been little more than support for Internet research. I haven’t opened one in years. I didn't use one for my European trip in September of this year and I haven't used one to plan my December trip to Europe. I don’t think anything will change with regards to that. When was the last time someone opened their guidebook, read a restaurant review, called that restaurant using the phone number in the guidebook and made a reservation?

Most old first hand advice, for that matter most old and new first hand advice, will continue to be a starting point for independent research. I don’t see that changing.

Travel services such as rail and airlines are going to have a very
hard time remaining in business over the next 12 months as governments
are forced to curtail bailouts due to a lack of funds.

Yes, and as a result schedules will change. Once again, who looks in a guide book for a flight schedule?

There's a very good chance that the "golden age" of travel, affordable
to the worlds middle class, will be severely altered.

“Altered?” It’s always been fluid. But I am an optimist and I think some time between mid-2021 and mid-2022 the travel industry will be back in full swing. Those wanting to survive will have competitive pricing and where location A has become too expensive, then location B will grow in popularity.

When was the last time someone opened their guidebook, read a
restaurant review, called that restaurant using the phone number in
the guidebook and made a reservation?

June 5, 2019, Nice, France. The day our RS tour ended. My wife and I along with two other couples were looking for a place to eat. One of the other couples opened their guidebook as we were in our hotel lobby, found a restaurant, called and made a reservation for 6.

I get your point though. Personally we take hotel and restaurant suggestions in guidebooks as a friendly suggestion and then follow up with further research. As far as guidebooks being obsolete, I use them mainly as an idea starter of places I want to visit, so the majority of information will be timeless since those historical places aren't going anywhere.

I agree with Alan. The really basic information in any guidebook is not going to change. The Tower of London isn’t closing or moving, the champs-elysees isn’t gonna change it’s name, etc. Some smaller museums may close, but a quick check in the internet will let you know. like to read a book and research on line. Therefore, when starting to think about a place, I will get a guide book, usually Rick’s, then read it. I might then Watch Rick’s show about the place. If I am still interested in taking a trip, I proceed to check the internet for the details - days open prebooking, price, location, etc. Then I come here and research places from the guidebook that are on my list, such as restaurants and hotels. It is a process but one that has served me well. I am currently applying this process to determine if we want to visit Norway, and if yes, what time of year. So, for me, guidebooks will always be my first choice.

Guidebook...starter research. If it has pictures and maps, all the better.

I haven't used guidebooks for things like hotels and restaurants for decades. Sites like booking.com are what I've been using for accommodations and I expect that will continue to be the case. I rarely choose a restaurant until I'm hungry.

But things like "this is where the coliseum is in Rome" - well it's not going to change. Seeing what there is to see and do in a given place won't change much. Yes smaller museums may close, but those, plus hours and rates and things for other museums and sites are available on line. That info in guidebooks was getting outdated within a year or two even before the pandemic. So guide books I think will be useful to help rough out a plan of where you want to go, how long you might want to stay some where. Then it will be the internet for details like opening times, prices, public transportation options, etc.

I think it depends on what you ise the book for. The castle’s buildings museums and natural sites are probably not changing. They will still be there to see. How to get into them and other rules may change and hotels and restaurants are going to change.
So it depends on what you are looking for. I personally use books to determine the locations I want to go *say London and Paris or whatever) and then the big must see things but I go into the net to substantiate the requirements to get into them and then to see what else is around.

So for the big picture stuff they should still be good

The last time I used a travel book to any extent was also in the eighties, for my honeymoon and the following year. Probably a Fodor's and a Frommer's from the library. The missus and me started to return to Europe in the early 2000's, relying on the internet for information, including accommodations (unless the stays are very short we rent apartments, information on which is very limited in travel books). For Germany, Austria and France, local tourist board websites are excellent sources. Italy not so good.

I didn't contribute to either but Slow Travel and, later, Virtual Tourist helped me out a lot, both gone the way of the dodo. The former gradually went downhill after the founders sold the business. The latter had a great set up and many contributors.

I actually enjoy reading guidebooks-they help me focus on sights and make plans. I sometimes look at the recommend hotels, but generally I find them very relaxing to read.

I use them for general information. There’s a lot of Chinese restaurants around this area, the central business district is nothing but bank buildings and is dead after 6pm, there’s a lot of cute cafes in this neighborhood. The names of hotels may change and some may not reopen, but hotels tend to be clustered together so that’s good info as well. And, attractions aren’t going to move. I can still plan that going to church A and art museum C on the same day is a good idea since they’re close.

But yes, lots of research will have to be done even on places I’m familiar with. In a few aspects of travel ‘normal’ may never return. A lot of places may limit crowds (remember overtourism?). And some museums may raise their already stiff admission fees even higher, having me be more selective .

Walking around Frankfurt, it is sad to see how many restaurants and hotels have closed permanently and my guess is that cities all across Europe are seeing the same thing.
A guide book is always old information in the first place (at least 1.-2 years old by printing time) and in 2020, not a very valid source of information. Online sources are up to date and since most travelers have smart phones, easy to check times, entry fees, availability, reviews, maps, gps, special exhibits, public transport, etc.
I really cannot imagine a guide book being of much use really, and it is kind of a big waste of paper.

Guidebooks are already about 95% obsolete for me. The only thing I use them for is to rip out the pages for some specifics, take them on the trip and toss them when I'm done with the part of the trip they cover. The small, thin paper pages are much more desirable to me than making paper copies.

My favorite parts of the RS guidebooks are the simple maps with items of interest plotted on them. They are the big picture in a small format. And I do like large paper or laminated maps for getting an overview of an area that my phone or tablet simply can't provide.

I've been on one RS tour in the past few years where the guide referred to page numbers from the guidebook. I didn't see anyone pull out a guidebook to see what she was talking about.

I've used online information almost exclusively for about 10 years, both during the planning stages and while on the the trip.

For getting around, I find Google Maps much easier to use than any of the local sources for public transportation.

I put it to the test in Rome and I'd give it an A for providing the info I needed, including walking guides, bus numbers, schedules, stops and how long each option might take. I'd give myself a C for always following the directions given. 😏

Guidebooks might still be useful for pre-planning and giving you a place to start, but things will need to be verified for updated info. You can do this online. If they list sights and history, that won’t change, but you will need to check updated hours or policies. Listings of restaurants or stores will include plenty of places that closed, so you can start with the guidebook list, then check if the ones you are interested in are still open, if there are new hours or other changes. I make an online map before I go, marking places of interest with pins. I use guidebooks and online resources to find that places to mark, I still will but will need to confirm the guidebook suggestions with online info because I think things will be so out of date.

Anything written in 2020 or earlier just can’t be accurate. This means things written in late 2021 or 2022 will be better (assuming things clear up in mid-2021), but those won’t be in print until 2022 or 2023. So if we can travel in late 2021 or early 2022 we will need to rely on online info and be much more flexible than before.

Just today I opened a Michelin green for a certain area in France. The towns, mountains, waterfalls, caves, culture, history, suggested itineraries haven't changed since the guide was printed in 2002. For up-to-date opening and closings, I use the internet. I haven't used a guidebook for restaurants or hotels since the internet started providing that info in the 90s.

I have never used a guidebook for a restaurant. I haven't used one for hotels in over 10 years. For a sense of place and the beginning of my research, yes, I still use guides...more than one. Plus, I still love the feel of pages between my fingers.

I actually enjoy reading guidebooks-they help me focus on sights and
make plans. I sometimes look at the recommend hotels, but generally I
find them very relaxing to read.

Me too. I've been checking guidebooks out of our local library for a few months now, just for fun.

*Fun Fact. I was speaking to our local branch librarian and she says guide books have been flying off the shelves for the past few months; much more than normal.

There are many cities, towns, and sights that we've visited only because we read about them in a guidebook. So yes they have value, and that info will still be useful. But the impact of the pandemic will certainly make them less useful until the authors have caught up with closures and changes. Then there is a generational bias in terms of printed books versus online research, that may doom guidebooks anyway.

We've used the restaurant and hotel recommendations in RSE guidebooks all the time. We're not foodies, so we're not looking for gourmet experiences all the time. What matters to us is convenience to where we are, and thats why we like the way RSE prioritizes location in their recommendations.

I don't think guidebooks would be of much use to me, at least judging from the towns covered in Rick's guidebooks. I assume other guidebooks cover a similar assortment of large, well-known places. I'm just not that kind of a traveler.

For my last three trips to the area around Germany (Germany, Austria, and Czechia), I've stayed in 18 towns for 55 nights (that's 58 days in tour language) for over 8 weeks. Eleven of those nights (20%) have been in only five towns that are covered in Rick's guidebooks. And I only found accommodations in one of those towns (Prague) from his guidebook. In all of the other towns, four of the towns covered by Rick's guidebook and thirteen not in his books, I found my accommodations on my own, using mostly accommodation lists (Unterkunftverzeichnisse) on town websites.