When the Going Gets Tough...

When PW last checked in on travel publishers (Jan. 21), a cautious optimism was in the air. After the unsettled months following September 11, the American public, enticed by cut-rate air fares, seductive hotel packages and an unquenchable native wanderlust, had begun to travel again. Whether for business or pleasure, on short trips or long, people were buying guides, maps and atlases, and orders were actually beginning to come in after a couple of abysmal months. Air travel was still off, but Americans were on the move and book sales reflected their activity. Avalon Travel's publisher Bill Newlin spoke of "recovery" in several areas, including European travel. Rough Guide's marketing director, Simon Carloss, reported especially brisk sales in November and December in response to the launch of a new, color-added line. And Globe Pequot president and publisher Linda Kennedy, noting the lessons of history, pointed out that "wars and cataclysmic events of any kind have always impacted travel markets, but... these reactions are not reliable predictors for the long term."

And so, it turns out, they weren't. Many travel publishers, now at the height of the summer rush, report that the bounce back has continued. At Avalon, planning was cautious for 2002, but the rebound has been better and swifter than anyone anticipated. "The first quarter was very strong. We were a half-million dollars over projection," Newlin tells PW. At Wiley, travel publisher Michael Spring reports that his program exceeded its budget at the close of the fiscal year in April in an amazing turnaround. "Sales in March and April 2002 exceeded sales in March and April 2001," he says. "We've been advancing 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 copies of our titles." Lonely Planet found itself within 10% of the target it would have set on September 10, if it had been projecting then, says publisher Ryan VerBerkmoes, "and sales in Europe are setting records." At St. Martin's, Let's Go Guides publisher Lisa Senz sums up: "Everything stopped post 9/11. Now it's back on track. May is a big month, and it's in line with the way sales were last May."

In addition to these upbeat reports, new travel patterns and new expectations on the part of consumers are sparking new opportunities for travel publishers. PW spoke again with a number of travel houses to see how they are faring in the current climate and what they perceive as prime opportunities for growth. What destinations have been demanding attention? How are publishing programs being adapted to take advantage of fresh opportunities? What's clear from the responses is that, between new formats, new attitudes toward travel and newly awakened interest in familiar destinations, there is ample cause for continued optimism. Still, as one publisher points out, a short selling season and large returns make it hard to justify high quality paper, color and an annual revision if you're going to be pulping every year.

With domestic travel on the rise—and fewer foreign titles on retail shelves for the foreseeable future—domestic guides are soaring in importance, says Stuart Dolgins, president of the Langenscheidt Publishing Group. Langenscheidt, Rough Guides, Avalon Travel Publishing, Wiley and Fodor's are among the publishers that are planning more guides to North American cities and regions, as well as looking for ways to make the most of those they already publish. Other houses, such as Globe Pequot and Sasquatch, are already strong in these markets and are happy to keep plugging away in them.

"Whether because of fear of flying or because of the inconvenience, people are now driving 500 or 600 miles, rather than taking that short flight," says Dolgins. "Statistically, it's a fact that over the past eight to 10 years people take more frequent and shorter vacations." This trend, he says, has accelerated and will continue to have an impact. The company's response: to do more domestic titles, especially in the Insight Compact and Pocket Guides lines, which are shorter, more organized and pitched to quick trips.

Destinations within an easy drive of major East and West Coast cities are of new interest, Dolgins adds, both to travelers and to travel publishers. Canada is a growing destination—Toronto and Montreal in particular. "There's a certain safety in Canada in the American mind." Las Vegas, too, is becoming more popular as it becomes more of a family destination. "People want to spend more time with their kids and their families," Dolgins says. "This started before 9/11. If the kids are happy, everyone's happy. If the kids are miserable, everyone's miserable. We're developing more along these lines." The Berlitz imprint, which Langenscheidt recently acquired, might be the repository for these new titles.

The future also looks good for books on adventure travel, Dolgins says. "People are doing all kinds of interesting and physical things, borderline dangerous things even. This is a growing area with lots of opportunities, and worth publishing for. I think we'll see more titles dealing with specific activities."

At Rough Guides, growth opportunities include more titles for domestic North American travel, with a Rough Guide to the Rocky Mountains (strong emphasis on outdoor activities) and a Pocket Guide to Yosemite just out. Identifying another growth area, the company plans to address the weekend and short-stay crowd with formats for shorter vacations. Also, color has been introduced to the text-based books for the first time in an attempt to appeal to a broader audience. "We were working on the redesign for a year before last year's relaunch, and we couldn't postpone them," says Carloss. "We publish guides, that's what we do—despite what's happening in global politics." One major exception concerned the New York City guide, which was in the proof stage when the terrorist attack occurred. It was recalled, revised and released several months late, in March, fully up-to-date, with revised downtown material, a newly drawn transportation network and a revised text that took the attack into account. The books for 2003 are all underway, but, Carloss says, the company always keeps in mind their commercial potential and it won't be expanding to areas where they can't sell "decent" numbers to the English-speaking world.

In the way that, say, mystery readers look to their favorite authors as "brands" of a sort, so travel book buyers frequently rely on recognized guidebook brands. Frommer's, now owned by Wiley, is one of several publishers that has name recognition working for it. "Bookstores have cut back on marginal titles that don't turn, but they are helped by major brands," says travel publisher Michael Spring. "Mom-and-pop titles have been cut while major series like Frommer's are kept, so we're in an even stronger marketing position than before 9/11." One of Wiley's responses to the new travel climate has been to update and retitle an earlier guide to air travel: Fly Safe, Fly Smart (Frommer's, June) includes the latest on airport security, on-board safety measures, new baggage restrictions and the ubiquitous presence of national guards as well as the "coping with lost luggage" type of information from the original book, What the Airlines Never Tell You. "People are looking for safe adventure," says Spring. "The patriotic response to 9/11 is making people want to get in their cars and have a touchy-feely experience with their families." Each of the titles in Frommer's Unofficial Guide to the Best RV and Tent Campgrounds series, which debuted in March, went back to print after eight weeks, Spring reports. "Domestic travel is growing, and RV travel is growing significantly."

Bonnie Ammer, president and publisher of Fodor's—another perennially popular travel brand—brings up the "hassle factor" as one of the things causing people to hop in their cars and go. "Where Americans travel may first be influenced as much or more by the mechanics of getting there as by the destination itself," she says. Not all travelers trust the friendly skies yet. "People are now deciding if they really feel comfortable flying, or if they'd feel better driving or cruising to a destination this year," Ammer notes. Only now, she adds, are the airlines expanding their schedules for the summer travel season. "How the airlines and airports deal with the increased capacity without pushing the patience of travelers too far will influence many travelers as they look to plan summer and fall vacations," she says. To deal with the mechanics, Fodor's recently added Fly Easy and Travel with Your Family to its FYI Series. And to meet the increased demand on the home front, June will see the addition of three new titles in the recently launched Road Guide series: Great Drives of the East, Great Drives of the West and National Parks of the West.

Lonely Planet is not making big changes, says publisher Ryan VerBerkmoes. Some subsidiary lines will be dropped (the Out to Eat guides to 30 cities), but the travel guides will continue as before, adding new places when possible ("There's almost no place we don't cover," says VerBerkmoes). One growth opportunity for the company is in multicountry guides being broken out into separate books—"look for these in about a year." Despite major layoffs in the U.S. office, VerBerkmoes says business is fine at the Melbourne headquarters. "Lonely Planet is still seen as a brand that's a must buy. It's not optional. I'd hate to be someone with just three books in the current retail climate. The bittersweet aspect of BEA is you see people there with their labors of love and you think, what's the odds for them."

The brand new Moon Metro series at Avalon Travel Publishing (Moon Metro San Francisco and Moon Metro New York are the initial titles, with Paris, Washington, London, Los Angeles, Chicago and Amsterdam to follow) represents what Bill Newlin calls the company's clearest vision for growth—the development of new products. The books, a book and map amalgam created from custom-drawn maps and detailed neighborhood plotting, grew out of e-media new format discussions the company held a few years ago. "When the Avalon Publishing Group, including the Moon, Foghorn and Rick Steves lines, was put together in 1999, we saw that our weakness was how we did cities. We looked at all that was out there and asked ourselves what we could create that would be different—and we came up with Moon Metro. We liked neighborhood organization as a way of understanding the city." The handbooks, Newlin says, were greeted enthusiastically when they were unveiled at BEA. The company will launch another new product dealing with regions and countries in spring 2004.

"Our largest competitors," Newlin adds, "concentrate on forms they've already developed, and we do too, as with the Rick Steves line, but when we see a weakness, we're willing to take a risk and try to create something completely new." Launching a new series is difficult, Newlin reports, but "the nice thing is that travelers are ready for new things. If you can get past the hurdles, then the rewards can be great." The Steves line, including a large number of country and European city guides, is a prime center of growth, says Newlin. "He has a new TV show, a Web site and a tour guide service. The line is not growing hand over fist this year, but sales in 2002 are equal to 2001, which is a great thing, given where European travel is," Newlin continues. "Also, 2000–2001 was a year of huge growth." The company is taking promotion for the line to new levels. "Now that Avalon is a larger entity, we can go after larger promotional opportunities."

At Wiley, Spring points out that new markets rather than new titles are the company's target growth area. He encourages publishers to think of incremental revenues through clubs, gift shops and sporting goods stores, as well as improving the quality of existing guides. "There has been a huge increase in guidebooks in recent years. Everyone jumped on the bandwagon. Bookstores have 20 guides to Paris; anyone would be out of their minds now to do the 21st. The only reason to do a travel book today is to do a niche that hasn't been filled, to look at travel in a new way. People now realize how expensive it is to update and how iffy sales are in a dangerous world. The market can't support so many series.

"With so many out there, brand loyalty is what it's all about. You're not promoting a book so much as a brand. Our goal is to promote the Frommer brand." Future plans at Wiley include introducing a color series in fall 2003 and continuing to develop the new Hanging Out series, started two years ago as an answer to the Let's Go guides. In Spring's words, "It seems to have found a niche, and we'll expand it."

Globe Pequot, the largest regional travel publisher for the U.S., won't be changing its look or focus, according to executive editor Mary Luders Norris. "It's fine for us that people will be traveling more in the U.S. We have the books for that." The house will, however, continue to groom market segments and target specific needs, taking into account such activities as where to stay and to find the most fantastic fly fishing. "It's amazing how many ways there are to look at an area: new to town, relocating, single person, family, retiree. We have series that address each group at that time of their life." And the house will continue to search for more. "We are adding to our lists. As the population moves, as medium-sized cities become more popular, as things like Walt Disney World or the Rock 'n' Roll Museum add interest to places, we expand to cover them. Travel, Norris says, is all about "going forth and finding new places and finding new ways to visit tried and true places."

Sasquatch, whose main focus is also the U.S., will continue to cultivate homegrown destinations in its core Best Places series. "For us, growth opportunities are within the West Coast region," says senior editor Kate Rogers. With such a tight focus, she says, new options are perhaps more easily explored. Though the company saw some cutbacks and layoffs after September 11, the Best Places series "just keeps moving," and Sasquatch will continue its publishing program. New for the fall are two Destination guides—Best Places Central California Coast and Best Places Marin— and one in the city series, Best Places Seattle. Because of tightened budgets, updates to a few Destination titles (Best Places Northern California Coast and Best Places Oregon Coast) have been pushed back for the time being. Other books have been updated with short itineraries to satisfy the increasing number of short-stay and weekend travelers, and user-friendly icons added to help parents make family sense of the listings. A new distribution arrangement with PGW, started in January, is expected to help the house increase its nationwide distribution and get increased national exposure as well.

As an example of how Sasquatch is expanding, Rogers notes that the company recently bought the existing Best Places to Kiss series from Beginning Press in Seattle. The revamped line will launch in fall 2003 with Best Places to Kiss in the Northwest, Best Places to Kiss in Northern California and Best Places to Kiss in Southern California.

The travel market as a whole could rightly be compared to a big clump of Play-Doh. Poke a hole in one place, and a nearby area will bulge out in compensation. "When one part of the world is affected and tourism takes a downturn, people travel elsewhere," says Carloss at Rough Guides. "The market is resilient like that. November, December and January are traditionally the time people travel to Egypt. People are not doing that now. But Mexico, Costa Rica and Belize are showing stronger than usual sales." Hawaii, China and Japan are also performing well, he reports—"People's desire to travel and experience other cultures is still very strong."

Where else are people looking to travel? Dolgins at Langenscheidt says Americans willing to go abroad are beginning to return to Tuscany, Spain and Portugal. On the domestic scene, Las Vegas wins hands down because "it's a good short-term place to visit." At Avalon, Latin America has shown strong activity, reports Newlin. "Mexico and Central America took a quick hit, but came back stronger than ever before." Though the company is new to South America, he says, "It's a strong area for us. We were already expanding there and will continue. In the Rick Steves series, Ireland is doing especially well."

At Wiley, Italy has been the number one destination both last year and this. European travel, Spring tells PW, "is almost back to where it was: Italy, France, Britain and Spain. Vegas and Disney are both back. Hawaii book sales have jumped more than guides to anywhere else. It has the aura of a faraway destination, but is safe emotionally and is closer to home." At Fodor's, books covering South and Central America have been strong for several months and European destinations have picked up as well.

VerBerkmoes at Lonely Planet says Cambodia keeps growing as a destination, so the scope of Cambodia does, too—"the earlier edition had 200 pages; the new one has 352." Like other travel publishers, VerBerkmoes subscribes to the notion that people want to travel no matter what. "There is a phenomenon of pent-up demand," he says. "People have had enough of driving 300 miles to see relatives, rather than see Istanbul. The sales are gone from last year—once people don't buy a travel book, that sale is lost for good." His colleagues seems to agree: last fall may have been a disaster, but the clouds are clearing on the horizon. Travel publishers may have lost sales, but they clearly haven't lost customers. Wanderlust, after all, is difficult to wipe out.