We all said that travel would be one of the first trade genre to move at speed into the digital era and further evidence of this was seen this week with their announcement that they will provide flight search functionality on their web site and enable consumers to create their own guides.
The personalised guides are clearly a move towards ‘My Book’ and will feature maps, travel tips and guides to local attractions. My Guide will be standard A5 format and printed on perfect bound, glossy paper. The price is unclear and whether the consumer will contribute their pictures, comments and ratings remains in the future.
Visitors can already produce their own PDF versions of the guidebooks and it envisaged that the new glossy versions will be available within days of ordering and will be more user-friendly.
It is easyto question whether retaining the ‘book’ concept is appropriate and whether a glossy bound book is required over a loose leaf compilation. Irrespective bold steps are being taken and it now down to establishing the sales channel and consumer awareness.