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HomeAway and Gogobot team up, create guides for vacation rental customers
DigitalHomeAway and VRBO vacation rental owners can now build local destination guides for their customers based on existing destination information from Gogobot users, as well as by adding their own tweaks and local favorites. Vacation rental customers can view these “Insider Guides” by going to a HomeAway.com and VRBO.com property listings, and selecting “Map.” Below [...]
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The guidebook industry is suffering, but it’s not dead yet
DigitalIt’s a tale told in gory detail by the numbers. UK sales of international guidebooks have fallen 45% in eight years. Guides covering where to eat or stay have fared worse, down over 60%, says analyst Stephen Mesquita, citing Nielsen BookScan data. Bowker data suggests something even more depressing: only 20% of current buyers are [...]
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Google quietly pulls plug on Frommer’s print travel guidebooks
Digital» Get your daily dose of Skift: subscribe to our newsletter, RSS, Twitter or Facebook. Google has ceased production and publication of printed guidebooks bearing the Frommer’s brand name, Skift has learned. The last two Frommer’s books to roll off the presses were guides in the all-color Day-by-Day series devoted to Napa and Sonoma and Banff and the [...]
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Lonely Planet assures book authors that print will continue, following sale
DigitalBBC Worldwide, the arm of BBC that just sold off Lonely Planet to NC2 Media, quickly moved to assure LP authors (who are mostly freelancers) in a letter from Marcus Arthur, the MD of Global Brands at BBCW. The letter, in full, below. ——————- This morning we announced that BBC Worldwide is selling Lonely Planet to NC2 [...]
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How Lonely Planet is winning the battle on social media
DigitalThick guidebooks covered in stickers and torn in the corners used to be the tell-tale sign of a traveler. Although some tourists still are engrossed with words in print instead of the sites in front of them, many are now also staring at smartphone screens. Besides the obvious opportunity to share content online, the Internet [...]
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UPDATED: Lonely Planet and the rapid decline of the printed guidebook
Digital[Updated to reflect sale of Lonely Planet] The announced sale of Lonely Planet today for $121 million less than BBC Worldwide paid for it only two short years caps off eight months of drama surrounding the guidebook industry and its leading players. In August, Google announced the purchase of Frommer’s from Wiley publishing for a price [...]
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Interview: Wikipedia’s travel site Wikivoyage launches today amidst big hopes
DigitalSix months after some Wikitravel administrators broke ranks with the site’s parent company Internet Brands and began planning an advertising-free travel guide, Wikivoyage officially launched today. The official debut of the Creative Commons license-driven travel guide comes on sister company Wikipedia’s 12th birthday. But, SEO-hog Wikipedia will be giving its young sibling plenty of gifts for [...]
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Wikipedia’s travel site’s official launch coming soon; what to expect and not expect
Digital» Get your daily dose of Skift: subscribe to our newsletter, RSS, Twitter or Facebook. [UPDATE: The Wikimedia Foundation is tentatively slated to launch Wikivoyage next week, on January 15, Skift has learned.] Wikipedia’s next big push is a travel wiki, and the official launch of Wikivoyage is coming soon, according to Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. Wales was on Colbert Show [...]
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The limited-edition, rabbit-fur covered guidebook that lists locals’ phone numbers
DigitalThe new travel guide For You The Traveller uses local residents across five continents as expert guides, relying on them to provide area maps and recommendations. But this isn’t a crowd sourced travel guide- it’s a deeply personal look at one local resident’s suggestions. How personal? If you’re lucky enough to snag one of the 200 limited edition, rabbit [...]
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Lonely Planet looks for a new moderation system before Thorn Tree forum returns
DestinationsIn the wake of a temporary shutdown of Lonely Planet‘s Thorn Tree travel forum because of “rogue posts,” the company will not reopen it until “we are 100% confident that the right new moderation systems are in place to ensure there’s no repeat of such language/themes,” a BBC spokesperson says. “We have discovered instances of [...]
