There’s been a lot of talk in the travel community about a Lonely Planet writer’s admission that he wrote for a guidebook without actually traveling to the country. This isn’t surprising to those of us who have used Lonely Planet Guides over some time. Everywhere I go I hear Lonely Planet cursed. Travelers curse the inaccurate maps and out of date prices and business owners curse the authors for bad reviews or no reviews at all. Admission into the “LP” can put an entire town “on the travel map,” as it did with Muang Ngoi in Northern Laos, or put a restaurant out of business when it isn’t included in the newest edition.
Guidebooks have become a big business and keeping up-to-date information published is difficult in the internet age. Guidebooks to popular regions are always updated more frequently, after all it is a business. Less popular regions, like Central Asia, aren’t updated frequently because the small number of people who visit can’t offset the cost of updating the guide and provide the same kind of profits as a guide to Europe or Southeast Asia. Of course, Lonely Planet is the only guidebook publisher that I know of offering a “Central Asia” guidebook so most travelers are stuck with an out of date book. Still, something is better than nothing and LP’s Central Asia is coveted by travelers in the region—I refused to lend it out on numerous occasions for fear of never seeing it again.
After traveling around Central Asia for two months I met a supposed Lonely Planet author in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. I was happy to help him better the next edition of the book, after being so disappointed with the current one. Despite being a region with a complex and fascinating history and infinite tourist potential it measured in at about fifth the size of the Thailand book, despite covering six countries. When I met the author, on his first assignment for LP, he was arranging a private taxi tour around Southern Kyrgyzstan accompanied by the owner of our guesthouse as a guide. I can understand the difficulties of traveling in the region without speaking Russian but am disappointed with the way he chose to research the book. He also brushed off any attempts for my help or information and asked for the Western men sitting on either side of me for their email in case he thought of any more questions. He had no interest whatsoever in a woman’s perspective regarding travel in the region. How could this man, around my age and also a graphic designer, have any more insight that I do? It was obvious that he hadn’t done any research before arriving (he didn’t know about the Chinese border closing/October holiday) and skipped border crossings and regions that didn’t fit into his hurried schedule. In talking to him it was clear that more important information would be left out of the next edition.
Ultimately, Lonely Planet has forsaken quality for profit to it’s own detriment. It’s writers are barely paid enough to cover their own travel and rewarded for doing less in-depth research by LP’s lump sum payment method. Writers can only make a profit by quickly skimming the surface, replacing personal investigation with unreliable sources. I understand the need for profit in business but at some point the scales tip and you lose customers. Lonely Planet has recently been bought by BBC Worldwide and if anything, changes seem to be leading toward more profit and a more upscale readership. It’s doubtful that the writer’s admissions will have much affect on Lonely Planet’s bottom line, but will surely help promote the writer’s new book.
6 responses to “Surprise! Guidebooks Not Infallible”
Megan,
What in your experience do you consider to be the best guidebooks? Does it depend on a “place-by-place” basis, or do you think one brand is better than others?
I have to say that “the best” guidebook varies place-to-place and also by your style of travel. Most people who travel with Lonely Planet wouldn’t take an Insight Guide or Fodors because they skew to an older audience in the tone, format and information provided. Before I go on a trip I look at both Fodors and Insight books at the library, mostly for the photos.
My first guidebook was Let’s Go Europe 1997. Let’s Go is skewing a little young for me at this point. So, ultimately, Lonely Planet has the most number of titles combined in the most appropriate combinations and style for me.
Rough Guides is the closest to LP in terms of style and level of travel. I used a Rough Guide in Thailand just because I couldn’t stand to buy the LP that I saw everywhere. The prices were quoted in Pounds, which was annoying for me, and the paper is really thin. I’m not sure this is still the case.Once you get used to a certain guidebook’s order, maps and so on it’s annoying to navigate through a different publisher’s format.
I think Moon Guides and can be okay too but I’ve never used them on the road. There’s some regions in which the market is flooded (SE Asia, Europe) but others where more completion would be welcome (Africa, Central Asia). The best guides for Africa, hands down, are Bradt. I used a Bradt Guide for Madagascar and wished I had one for Ethiopia. The main problem is that they only cover one country.
LP doesn’t cover Africa well, many countries are only included in the Africa on a Shoestring edition which is practically useless. when I was thinking of going to Mozambique I couldn’t find it included in any of the multi-country editions, ave the shoestring. So in those cases you can get a Bradt and have a great book but less room in your pack or get an “all-Africa” book that isn’t much help but combines all of the countries you need.
One thing to note is not all editions are the same. For instance, Lonely Planet’s Madagascar English Edition is flimsy and almost pointless but the French LP Madagascar is amazing.
By the way, Wikipedia has a list of Travel Guide companies. There’s some on there I don’t know but it doesn’t include some, like Moon.
I have to say, I am a fan of Lonely Planet, and have a rather large collection (mostly thanks to my days working in a publishing company where I got them heavily discounted). I think it’s the Lonely Planet story that keeps me reading the guidebooks (Megan – have you read Once While Travelling by Tony and Maureen Wheeler?).
But usually, I use them more for research and as a suggestion rather than a guide. It’s true that the information in them is not always always great – I’ll never forget trying to find a hostel in Paris in the dark and snow using a map from Lonely Planet Paris encounter – eventually, we got directions from someone passing by, and she was appalled that our map was “missing several streets”. No wonder we were lost. And in Vietnam, an entire street of shops LP said was in a particular place was no where to be found. So in my experience, the books are great for ideas, but not always great in practical use.
I really admire where the brand has come from, and so far, they’re the only guidebook company I’ve come across whose guidebooks correlate with my interests and travel style.
I was slightly dismayed when BBC bought LP, so as for whether or not I’ll keep using them – I have a trip to Cambodia coming up, and one to Central Europe. So we’ll see.
Just my 2 cents 🙂
I don’t envy the authors of LP Guides, with an area as big as the world to cover and a readership of insane numbers they are never going to satisfy everyone. What I think they do well, is to encourage feedback, and that’s something you’re well placed to do Megan. The author you came across won’t last long with an attitude such as his, but someone with your approach could easily replace him. Why not submit your views on a womans perspective to the LP and see where it gets you.
Megan,
Haven’t read the Wheeler’s book but know their story. I think they’ve done a lot of good for the travel world and think they deserve their success. And despite everything I’ve said, I do believe that LP are still the best guides for me. I wish they would pay their writers more or use a combination of writers/expats/locals for information.
I usually use them for the map and and specific things (embassies, museums etc.) I’m looking for. Usually there’s an area of town that has all the hotels or restaurants and it’s nice to know which direction to head, even if you don’t go to the place that’s written up. Once a place in mentioned the prices increase dramatically so a lot of people are disappointed.
I also had a problem in Tajikistan where the map/info was off. Locals had no idea where the Kyrgyz embassy was, the Kazak embassy guard told me that there was none (!) and it took me something like 3 hours to find. I asked if they had moved but they had been there well before the last edition was published so there was no reason for the inaccuracy.
I think we’re all holding our breath to see what happens form the BBC deal. So far I just see a lot more ads and taking information that website users offer for free and recycling it as content on the front page.
Ant,
I don’t qualify for a LP writing position. You have to be a “published” author. The man I met had written something for a local paper but didn’t appear to be a great wealth of information on travel. They don’t really need writers, they need people who are organized, detail-oriented and good at research. Aside from the cultural stuff the rest is just information that can be styled by editors anywhere.