Why travel guidebooks are not going anywhere
Despite predictions that the internet would kill them
THEY DECLARED that it was dead—or, if it wasn’t dead yet, it soon would be. The cause of the malady was viral: first blogs, then influencers on Instagram and TikTok. Yet, for all journalists’ poor prognoses, the printed travel guide is still in fine fettle. Sales in Britain were mostly flat in 2014-19, a period when smartphones became both ubiquitous and powerful.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Not going anywhere”
Culture June 29th 2024
From the June 29th 2024 edition
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