Travel Guidebooks Go Wireless - Industry Trend or Event

Having embraced the Web, tour-book publishers now look to the unwired world.

KRISTEN HUNTLEY, A SENIOR manager at Quokka Sports in San Francisco, has made two trips to Europe in the past eight months. The first time, she and companion Jonathan Davis visited five cities, toting a stack of five guidebooks. On their most recent visit, in June, they downloaded Lonely Planet's new CitySync guides onto their Palms and left the books at home.

Huntley found CitySync more intuitive and efficient than leafing through a book. "With print guides you can get lost. They're great for background before you take off, but if you're in a foreign country and you have $20 to spend on dinner, it's better to just select a neighborhood and see your options."

Huntley, 27, is one of a growing number of travelers embracing electronic guidebooks. Though these guides are in their infancy they've already arrived on platforms from the Palm OS to the wireless Internet service OmniSky. Some of them, such as Frommer's and Fodor's, are wireless; others, such as CitySync, need to be downloaded. But all are reshaping the travel guide landscape, putting high-tech tools in the hands of tourists.

A few years ago, many major travel-guide publishers were concerned that the Net would hurt their sales. But far from cannibalizing sales, the Net has helped publishers build their brands and expand into new territory. Travel guides are now a $168 million-a-year business in the United States, according to research group Simba Information. Lonely Planet, Frommer's and other leading publishers have recorded growth rates of 15 percent to 25 percent per year over the past four years, as much of their guidebook content has migrated online.

Due to handhelds' limited memory and bandwidth, the new applications focus on cities, not countries. They can't replace a guidebook for a monthlong odyssey in Thailand or an exploration of Italy's Amalfi coast. But for the handheld-toting traveler who wants to figure out how to spend a free afternoon or where to go for dinner, these mobile guides - plus a good map - are ideal substitutes for printed guides.

Lonely Planet's CitySync sells guides for a dozen cities, including New York, London, Hong Kong and Sydney, with six more scheduled for release this fall. Each is downloadable for $19.99; a CD that enables customers to choose any five cities sells for $49.99. Free updates are available at the CitySync Web site.

Footsore sightseers searching for a restaurant can search CitySync by cuisine type, location and price range. In a few seconds a list of eateries pops up, with a short review and basic information for each. Also available: lodgings, attractions and shopping.

CitySync also provides scrollable locator maps. The maps give readers a sense of their destination, but they're no substitute for a good paper map.

Ora Tsang, a sports event coordinator from Edmonton, Alberta, who used CitySync for a trip to Paris in May, says the digital maps "just took up memory" in her Handspring. While she liked lightening her load and using CitySync to find restaurants and attractions, she missed the rich background information found in print guidebooks.

"This is definitely a version-one product," acknowledges Lonely Planet digital publishing manager Scott McNeely. The challenge in version two, he says, will be expanding the listings and integrating synchronization technology, so CitySync can incorporate real-time bulletins on current exhibitions, cultural events and movies.

Lonely Planet's competitors, Frommer's and Fodor's, both offer bare-bones wireless guides for the Palm VII. They've also optimized the guides for OmniSky. London-based Rough Guides says it will likely have a PDA or phone-based product out by the end of the year.

"We want people to get what they want, wherever they want it, on whatever device they like says Brenda McLaughlin, senior VP for Internet operations for IDG Books, which owns Frommer's Guides (IDG Books and The Standard are majority-owned by International Data Group.) On the Palm VII, Frommer's City To Go features the usual listings for lodging, shopping, dining, attractions and nightlife.

A more complete version of the Frommer's guidebooks that recently debuted on OmniSky includes new features, such as walking tours that aren't yet available on the Palm version. The goal is the same as Lonely Planet's: "The next stage is adding events," says McLaughlin, "like the opening of an exhibition in Paris."

For all their early achievements, these mobile guides are primarily proof-of-concept demos -- tools that show travelers there's a new way to get advice. It's still not clear how publishers will earn revenue with these products. Lonely Planet is taking the most direct approach, selling CitySync through the Net and on a CD. Frommer's envisions free services, supported either by advertising or vendors, says McLaughlin. Customers might have the option to pay a premium for ad-free guides.

But relying on vendor and advertising support carries inherent risks. Users will balk at slow-to-download wireless ads, and short text messages may not appeal to many advertisers. Even worse, mobile guides supported by vendors could compromise the hard-won integrity of a brand such as Frommer's. "The perception of bias is as bad as bias itself," notes McLaughlin.

"We're far from seeing a business model [for mobile guides] emerge," says Brent Peich, VP and general manager of Fodors.com. "At this stage of the game we're testing the waters to find a solid business arrangement that can evolve over time." Peich envisions a fee-for-service model, rather than one supported by advertising. "There are a number of issues, including low bandwidth and markup languages," he says. "Would consumers tolerate advertising, given the slow download times and the cost?"

Though Lonely Planet doesn't have firm figures, McNeely says the company has sold "thousands" of CitySync guides through electronic downloads, and that initial sales of the just-released CD have been "strong." Another 70,000 people have downloaded CitySync demos, which expire after 24 hours. Nevertheless, with all the Web-based travel information available for free, it's questionable whether travelers will pay a premium for up-to-the-minute electronic guides.

Though revenue models and delivery systems remain unproven, the trend is clear: Travel guides will continue to move rapidly toward mobile and wireless applications, and these apps will soon be robust enough to attract lots of users.

While established travel guide publishers, with their wealth of content, are in an ideal position to capitalize on the new format, other companies, such as online city guides, can also grab a share of the market. Several upstarts, such as AvantGo.com and Vindigo.com, already incorporate real-time data, providing up-to-the-minute advice on dining, shopping and entertainment. While these services are useful for travelers, they're best suited for locals because they require daily syncing with updated Web content. Travelers who may not have the inclination or ability to regularly sync their handhelds will either download-and-go or access data through wireless connections via PDAs or cell phones.

Meanwhile, online brands such as adventure-travel site Gorp.com are preparing for a wireless future. Gorp CEO Jonathan Guttenberg says his company is developing systems that will enable a traveler's handheld to use a GPS or other system to deliver guidebook information based on its precise location.

Thus to a hiker in Yosemite National Park, Gorp could deliver trail guides, topographical maps, weather reports and even tips for safeguarding food from bears.

Eric Kettunen, Lonely Planet's U.S. general manager, says that in two years CitySync will cover hundreds of cities. But the guidebook company's aspirations go beyond city guides. "The goal is a Web-based WorldSync where travelers can download any Lonely Planet information from any Net connection in the world," he says. When this happens, Lonely Planet will no longer consider itself a publisher of hundreds of separate titles: "It will be one virtual book that you can customize," Kettunen explains -- a book that Lonely Planet can update every day.

Frommer's McLaughlin foresees a future in which travelers could create a custom guide from Frommer's France, the company's primer on Paris walking tours, and its driving guide to Western Europe. Likewise, travelers could go to Fodors.com and select content from its New York guidebook, along with Fodor's titles Around New York City with Kids and Baseball Vacations. Such individual guidebooks could be downloaded onto a PDA or printed and bound.

The local hoteliers and restaurateurs of the world should take note. "Each trip we take -- and we travel a lot -- we're more dependent on using the Palm," Huntley says. If a hotel or restaurant isn't accessible through a PDA, "we don't stay there or eat there."

Michael Shapiro ([email protected]) is a travel columnist for the San Francisco Examiner and the author of Internet Travel Planner.

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