Exciting Challenges ahead for Lonely Planet
By Darren Cronian on Wednesday, January 16th, 2008

This week I was lucky enough to interview Tom Hall, who works for Lonely Planet about the future, and challenges ahead for one of the biggest travel brands. If you have any questions for Tom please leave them in the comments box and I’ll try and get him to pop by and answer them.

Exciting Challenges ahead for Lonely Planet

What is your role at Lonely Planet?

I’m the product manager for Pick & Mix, which enables you to buy, download and print individual chapters from Lonely Planet guidebooks. Basically, it’s my job to make sure Pick & Mix meets the needs of travellers and is commercially viable. I analyse how Pick & Mix is performing and monitor feedback from travellers to help figure out the best way to expand it.

I also spend my day trying to keep up with the speedily-changing world of digital publishing, and working with our crack marketing team to get the word out to travellers. Currently, I’m focused on expanding Pick & Mix to new regions: North America in December, Africa this month, and the South Pacific next month.

What are the challenges for Lonely Planet in 2008?

Our biggest challenges are on the digital side. We have to find more ways to get travellers the information they want, when they want it, and how they want it. Our website wins awards, but it needs more content, and focus on usability. As an organisation, we need to be nimble enough to thrive in a constantly-evolving competitive landscape.

Another challenge is sustainability. The industry needs to take the lead in addressing environmental concerns so that travel has a positive impact on local communities, and the world. Because our guidebooks are taken into unusual and fragile environments, we’ve got a big part to play in this.

What’s the best travel tip you know?

My father gave me some exceedingly useful travel advice. He said ‘before you leave for the airport, always sight your ticket and passport.’ It’s not particularly inspirational, but I repeat it to myself before setting off anywhere, and it works. You can forget a lot of things, but leaving your ticket or passport behind really sucks.

Also, travel alone at least once in your life. Many people think they can’t, but trust me, you can. It’s a different, perhaps more intense experience than travelling with a group, and though I struggle to articulate exactly why, I think travelling alone is really beneficial.

Where would you most love to travel?

The impossible question. Not even counting the places I’ve been and want to go back to, like Argentina, Morocco, Bali, and Thailand, the list of places I haven’t been yet and am desperate to see is embarrassingly long: Ethiopia, Libya, Nicaragua, Colombia, and Turkey, for starters.

If you tie me down and force me to choose, and you’re paying my way, I’d follow Shackleton to the South Georgia Islands and Antarctica, or head to barely-known islands and atolls in Micronesia to explore relics from the WWII Pacific theatre. But this list could change tomorrow…

Is there a future for the traditional travel guide book?

Yes. The good old fashioned paper guidebook has been around a long time, and it isn’t going anywhere soon.


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19 responses to “Exciting Challenges ahead for Lonely Planet”

Garri | 16 January, 2008 at 2:03 am

Tom, what’s the story with the Beeb and LP? Are they planning some programs co-branded with Lonely Planet?

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Travel Guy | 16 January, 2008 at 2:45 am

I’m so new with travel blogging and I just came across Lonely planet. Hell of a website. Great stuff on here by the way. Hopefully you’ll check out our stuff and comment from time to time.

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Kim Kinrade | 16 January, 2008 at 2:56 am

Hi,

I just found your blog and I can’t wait to get into the archives. When I get caught up on a few back posts then I may attempt to comment!

Great stuff!

Cheers,
Kim

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jeff@beatofhawaii | 16 January, 2008 at 4:07 am

I suggest that relevancy is the most significant issue that Lonely Planet (now owned by BBC) faces.

When we travel (which we do a lot), we assemble and use web site and blog content to get up to the minute unbiased information. Tour books may indeed be around for a long time, but due to limited usefulness, they will be in declining popularity from here out.

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RobK | 16 January, 2008 at 1:19 pm

Firstly it is great to read interviews from people within the travel industry, especially companies like Lonely Planet. So well done Darren for this little ‘scoop’. I’d like to ask when you expect to have more European guides as part of the pick and mix? I am going on a road trip around Europe in June.

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Garri | 16 January, 2008 at 8:05 pm

Jeff, please explain what you mean by ‘tour books having limited usefulness’.

I see no evidence of them being limited in use but perhaps I’m being naive.

When I travel (which is not so much these days) I buy the best book I can find relevant to the country I’m visiting as I don’t actually have the time to assemble, use the web and certainly peruse blog content with the myriad of Adsense rubbish, not mention useless widgets, cluttering up blogs these days ;-)

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Darren Cronian | 16 January, 2008 at 8:19 pm

I disagree Garri.

Whilst I don’t think the life of the paper guide book is not at the end, the internet has fantastic content, and I think that the travel blog carnival is starting to prove that.

You mention Adsense and widgets, but most of us would just ignore that in the background and look for content

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Tom Hall | 17 January, 2008 at 12:27 am

Garri:

When you say programs, you mean video/tv, right? Assuming so, I’m unfortunately not the best person to ask, as I’m strictly focused on the web side of things. I’d certainly guess that some types of co-branded programs are being considered, but it’s early days and there’s nothing concrete I know of. Sorry I can’t tell you more on this.

Tom

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Tom Hall | 17 January, 2008 at 12:32 am

RobK:

Obviously I’d like to expand as quickly as possible, but it depends on results. We’re going to monitor the response to the new regions (North America, Africa, and the South Pacific) for a few months before we decide what to do next.

Cheers.

Tom

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Garri | 17 January, 2008 at 12:54 am

Not saying the internet doesn’t have fantastic content but I don’t feel it will replace printed guidebooks, or the notion of properly (skilfully) formatted content.

Some blogs I’ve been visiting are hard to ignore what’s going on in background when they take an age to load! I just click away, despite the good content or not.

Bloggers are too keen to sound the death knell for traditional journalism, media etc, and just recently, according to them, travel guide books are next to useless and about to meet their demise!.

These people have an agenda as they are hoping it will mean that everyone will come to rely on their precious blogs.

On the subject of guide books, nothing beats them as far as I’m concerned. Not yet anyway. I go back to my comment about ‘properly (skilfully) formatted content’. That may be in printed format, or it may be on digital books such as Kindle. Perhaps the delivery mechanisms and content gathering/selection process will become bespoke, as appears to be the case. But at the end of it will be a book, PDF that you can print out, or customised books which will be sent to you. Either way, the content will be organised and properly formatted.

I’m researching for a new project called Foodled and came across this site:

http://www.tastebook.com

Great concept and I can envisage something like this happening for travel.

Tom has his Pick & Mix, as he mentions in his interview above. Similar sort of idea in a way, though not as sophisticated as TasteBook.

Jeff talks about guide books having limited usefulness without backing it up with any evidence, anecdotal or otherwise.

I don’t see any evidence to back up his assertion. On the contrary. I see big companies investing time and money into a more bespoke version of the printed format, whether it be PDFs, or books, or digital books.

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Darren Cronian | 17 January, 2008 at 1:05 am

Garri,

You seem to have a problem with bloggers, why is that?

You have to remember that the majority of bloggers aren’t technies or designers, they write about a niche or topic because they enjoy the subject.

“Bloggers are too keen to sound the death knell for traditional journalism, media etc”

I disagree, but what we are saying is that travellers don’t have to just rely on guide books to research, there is a wealth of information on the internet, and not just blogs.

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Garri | 17 January, 2008 at 1:21 am

No problem with bloggers, all of the websites I visit are blogs.

But I don’t subscribe to some of the views that traditional journalism/media will be killed by bloggers when there’s clear as day evidence of media companies actually embracing blogging and new media concepts generally.

There was a discussion about this on ProBlogger and too many bloggers seemed to have the view that traditional media would die a horrible death. Why is it they think that? Vested interests perhaps, but also very naive.

I hear what you say about most bloggers doing it because they enjoy the subject, that’s true for some, not most. An increasing amount think they can earn enough income via Adsense to give up their day jobs, or am I being cynical? ;-)

Guide books are useful reference tools when you’re in the actual country you’re visiting. Using the internet to research PRIOR to your trip is a different thing entirely, but that’s not what Jeff was alluding to.

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Darren Cronian | 17 January, 2008 at 1:28 am

Good points Garri, I do love a good discussion!

I disagree with anyone who thinks bloggers will take over traditional media – just look what great things the likes of Guardian and the Times have done with implementing blogs within web infrastructure.

Re. the problogger conversation, I’ve not seen what’s been said but I was say they are being stupid and naive. Do you have a link for this would be interesting reading.

Re. Adsense, I don’t think you are being cynical because I know myself that Adsense nowadays converts poorly and this blog gets great traffic.

Anyone who thinks they are going to make a living away from blogging and adsense in it’s entirity is dreaming.

I can’t comment for Jeff, but I agree that the net is good for research prior, and I usually print a few useful articles, maps out and take them with me.

I very rarely buy guidebooks anymore because there only used once and arent worth the money in my opinion.

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Garri | 17 January, 2008 at 8:19 am

The thing is Darren, you can buy a guidebook for the same price as 2 fancy lattes from Starbucks. When you’re finished with it you can sell it on.

You try offloading your used lattes on Amazon!

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Darren Cronian | 17 January, 2008 at 8:57 am

Garri, I don’t know how much Starbucks cost down there but guides tend to cost £10+ ;) Good point offloading the guides on Amazon.

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Garri | 17 January, 2008 at 2:33 pm

Darren, you can buy them used for a fiver, or less, but make sure you buy the latest ones. Amazon has used guides to Prague for 86p! (but, that’s the 2000 edition!)

Then sell them for 3 quid when you’re done.

We never had Amazon when I first visited Morocco in the 80′s, so I used my copy of the Rough Guide to squash cockroaches in a really awful hotel they recommended in Casablanca. I squished some of them on the pages of the review and sent the copy back to them ;-)

Price of Starbucks down here? I dunno, can’t stand them but I was basing my assumption on a latte costing 2.50/3.00 – would that be right?

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Darren Cronian | 18 January, 2008 at 11:35 pm

Garri, no idea, not a fan of posh coffee’s neither!

Personally, I couldn’t live without Yorkshire teabags! :D

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Happy Hotelier | 27 January, 2008 at 11:09 pm

Hi Darren

I once stumbled on the personal Blog of one of the persons behind LP, but lost the url. Do you know where to find it coincidentally?

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Tom | 19 February, 2008 at 8:09 am

Could it be Tony Wheeler’s blog? http://www.lonelyplanet.com/tonywheeler/

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