Today's New York Times tours the effect of the Internet on travel book publishing, finding that travel book publishers are posting more material online, sometimes for free and sometimes whole books for free. They're also experimenting with placing material on cell phones, in-flight entertainment systems and satellite navigation devices. In these ways, and others, they aim to catch up with Internet companies like Expedia's TripAdvisor that have built substantial presences as online travel reference destinations.
Among examples:
Dorling Kindersley is allowing users of its site to create customized guides. The Times noted: "A group heading to Prague for a bachelor party, for instance, could assemble a list of the best bars in that city but skip information on, say, the opera."
In the same fun vein, Alastair Sawday Publishing is selling a guide to the pubs and inns of England and Wales that "alerts drivers, via their satellite navigation systems, when they approach a selected watering hole or guesthouse." But no opera houses . . .
Lonely Planet is selling material from some guidebooks online on a chapter basis and plans to expand the program.
Free travel information on the Internet has led to a drop in sales of "guides to mainstream destinations," the Times said. "New book formats are aiming at niche interests and travelers taking short breaks on low-cost flights."
Despite all the e-innovations, travel books have not taken a hike. According to Nielsen BookScan, some 14.8 million books were sold in the U.S. by travel publishers in 2007, up 11% from two years ago. And digital business is still a small fraction of sales, estimated at less than 5% at Penguin's travel division, for example.
Judy Slatyer, CEO of Lonely Planet, told the Times: "The travel guide business, the good old-fashioned paper book, is still a strong and healthy business. And we think it will be for some time."