Erlangen/Bremen.
Holidaymakers explore cities and countries with the slim book under their arm. Or was that the case – and for many, smartphones have long been travel guides enough?
Michael Müller does not mince his words. “The classic travel guide is a discontinued model,” he says with a view to the medium to distant future. The publisher of travel guides wants to leave the statement as follows, even after a period of reflection: “The authors can scratch my eyes out, but that’s my opinion.”
Printed works will still be available “although in 500 years”, but because of the small editions one can no longer pay writers with them. “If the travel guide is to survive, it will be in digitized form,” says Müller. Not everyone sees it that dramatically.
Displacement, but not displacement
At the MairDumont travel publishing group, which sells brands such as Marco Polo, Baedeker and Dumont, there is no end to the printed travel guides.
“As in most areas of media and life, we also expect a mixed model of print products and digital offers in the future – with a certain shift in the direction of digital,” says Marketing Manager Christina Riedel. “The media are used in parallel and the users look for the advantages that each medium offers, depending on their needs.”
The wealth of information available free of charge on the Internet is making things difficult for the travel guide market – but free offers do not guarantee reliability, the publishers argue. “Without seeing through it, you come across incorrect information that is no longer up-to-date,” says publisher Müller.
In fact, a lot of things on the web are not entirely objective: the glossy pages about cities and regions, for example, maintained by the respective tourism agencies – there are often many useful tips and inspirations there that you can look at on site. Only possible downsides are rather left out there. And is everything really as great as it is advertised? Questionable.
Platforms like Tripadvisor, in turn, rely on the reviews of many and try with some effort to ensure that these are authentic. But fake reviews on such sites can never be completely ruled out.
Curated content trumps
The strength of the travel guide is that there are authors who ultimately make personal assessments. But they stand for it with their names, they were researching on site.
As Riedel puts it, “A large group of travelers continue to prefer the focused and curated content of an expertly researched travel guide.” At MairDumont, demand for printed travel guides has been strong since the travel market rebounded after the pandemic. But numbers are not mentioned.
Similar answers are received from Dorling Kindersley Verlag (DK) and Bergverlag Rother, which specializes in outdoor titles.
Publisher Müller also confirms the trend, but fears with regard to his industry: “Newspapers also started digitizing too late and are now chasing after the business model.”
Bring the travel guide into the digital world with apps
At the moment there is no uniform trend reversal towards digital products. “We rarely get requests for digital travel guides,” says Sandra Hilzenthaler from Dorling Kindersley’s press department. At MairDumont, too, sales of e-books are “stable, but rather low”, as they say.
On the other hand, Bergverlag Rother has identified a certain digital demand and has adjusted to it. A tour app has been on the market since 2013, which was relaunched in September 2022 with expanded functions.
If you buy an annual subscription in the app for just under 30 euros, you get access to more than 10,000 tested tours, premium maps and all of the publisher’s digitized books. “Already in the first three months after the relaunch, the new app required payment Gold-Abos in the four-digit range,” said press spokeswoman Bettina Löneke.
MairDumont marketing manager Riedel speaks of “digital extensions to the large travel guide series”. MairDumont also offers tour apps, for example for the brand Marco Polo. This should make it easier to follow the tours from the travel guides – with online and offline maps with the course of the tour and waypoints.
Michael Müller Verlag also has one App developed, in which more than 100 travel guides are now integrated.
Publisher Müller is aiming for a revised edition of the electronic travel guide every year, which could create greater sales opportunities. In the case of print products, the rhythm is usually two years, combined with the greater risk of outdated information.
“A reader once asked for the money back for a book,” remembers Müller and smiles when he gives the reason: The reader had looked in vain for a cheap ice cream shop that was mentioned in the travel guide – but then it was no longer there .
Author book with phone number?
Travel book author Klaus Bötig (74) has made a name for himself in the industry with over a hundred titles, mainly about Greece. He still sees the future in print products, but he is also convinced that authors need to get more personally involved – and not just with tips.
“Authors have to take a stance on politics and society,” demands Bötig. “Travel guides must become author’s books with the author’s name on the front page and the author’s email address in the book. I would even put my phone number in the book.” Motto: bind the readers with personality and closeness. If you have something, you can write an email or call directly.
Only time can tell whether all the strategies will be enough to ensure that travel guides – whether printed or digital – can survive in the long run.
In any case, the young generation has always been a difficult target group, at least if you follow publisher Müller: “Young people never bought travel guides before. I myself traveled largely without a guide.”
Note: The author also works freelance for MairDumont-Verlag. This activity is not related to this text, the research was carried out independently. (dpa)
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