Travel Books
TUTTLE
Lonely Planet continues to deepen
its traditional blue-spine roster of
comprehensive guides, including the
release, in October, of the first update
to its Western Balkans book since
- At that time, tourism to
Croatia was on the rise, and the
publisher thought the rest of the
region was similarly poised to take
off. It didn’t.
Now, as some stretches of the
Croatian coast are so oversubscribed
that local officials are setting visitor
limits in an effort to fight overcrowd-
ing, travelers are seeking quieter
shores and venturing further inland.
The updated guide covers all the
countries that once comprised the
former Yugoslavia, as well as
Albania, whose unspoiled coast
beckons those steering clear of the
cruise ports of call in Croatia and Montenegro.
Lonely Planet is also expanding its U.S. coverage with
Maine & Acadia National Park (Dec.), a traditional,
comprehensive guide, and the more concise Pocket Portland
& the Willamette Valley (Feb. 2020). “We recognized that we
had gaps in our list in how we’d been covering the U.S.,”
says Darren O’Connell, product director at Lonely Planet.
“We’re now trying to ramp that up.
Rough Guides, too, is ramping up, adding Game Parks
of South Africa (2020) to its sub-Saharan Africa line and
pursuing new digital promotions. The publisher now
includes an e-book edition with every travel guide
purchased, following the popularity of the same venture
begun by sister imprint Insight Guides in 2016. Some
100,000 people have downloaded free Insight Guides,
according to the company.
At Fodor’s, February will bring the new Essential Iceland
as well as a revamped Essential Norway, the first update
since its 2009 publication. “Iceland is extraordinarily
accessible,” says Rachael Roth, editor and content manager
at Fodor’s, with direct flights to Reykjavik available from
various cities across the United States. Essential Scandinavia,
which hasn’t been updated since it was first published in
2009, also covered Iceland and Norway, but as more
visitors flock to Iceland’s natural wonders and Norway’s
burgeoning foodie scene, Roth says, current, standalone
guides were seen as valuable components of the publisher’s
European coverage. Essential Scandinavia will receive its
update in April 2020.
Hello Again
Here’s what’s new at three major guidebook
publishers