When she was traveling in India with her sister last year, Katie Reed, a 21-year-old who lives in Miami, Florida described her 1,000-page travel guide as “monstrous” in size.
But it was too handy to toss.
“It was invaluable,” said Reed, a budget traveler. “We would read it on the train.”
Even as more and more guidebook publishers, travel Web sites and others make travel information available online, publishers say they expect sales of guidebooks, the paper-and-ink kind, to remain strong.
“The book is such a great technology. It’s lightweight, it’s mobile and the battery never runs out,” said Matt Goldberg, the CEO of Lonely Planet, an Australian travel guide publishing company that covers the world with more than 600 guidebooks in 17 languages.
Travel guide publishers and a host of other providers also are making information available online and through applications that can be downloaded to smart phones and other devices.
Like many other publishers, Lonely Planet, at http://www.lonelyplanet.com/us, offers some of its guides online and is working to increase that presence dramatically. Lonely Planet also offers location-aware maps that steer smart phone users to restaurants and other sites recommended by the guide.
“What we’re witnessing right now is an explosion in mobile applications,” said Goldberg.
You can also see that trend at http://traveldk.com/, a site operated by the Eyewitness Travel Guides publisher Dorling Kindersley, where users can design their own guidebooks to be downloaded for free or mailed to them as a bound book.
“Let’s say you’re staying with a friend and don’t want to cart around a book with hotels in it,” said Katy Ball, a publicity manager for DK Eyewitness Travel and for Rough Guides, both travel publications. “You can select restaurants, shops and maps so you have only what you need.”
As for whether online applications will supplant the traditional book, publishers and booksellers alike…