Added: 11/16/2005 |
Plan Your Journey Easily with Travel GuidesWhile planning your trip, you should definitely take advantage of travel guides, which include the data on various tours, their length and prices as well as lodging, entertainment, plane, ship and train travel reservations. In addition to this, they offer detailed description and pictures of museums, shops, restaurants, hotels and other places of interest for tourists. Many of travel guides display information on their web-sites, so that you can save time. All you have to do is to go to the Internet and choose the place you want to visit.
Among the most popular travel guides is Fodor's, the largest publisher of travel and tourism information in the world. The company is also considered to be the first professional producer of travel guidebooks. Fodor's was founded by Eugene Fodor, who was a traveler and wanted to introduce new guidebooks to substitute the old and outdated ones. In 1936 his guide "On the Continent - the Entertainment Travel Annual" was published. In addition to the lists of hotels and sights the book contained tipping advice as well as the information on culture and people of various countries. The guidebook enjoyed great popularity in England and the United States. In 1949 Fodor's Modern Guide was introduced in Paris. In 1996 Fodor's web-site was created. Its popularity was so immense, that it was nominated for a Webby Award in 2004. As of 2005 Fodor's has published nearly 450 travel guides on 300 destinations.
Another prominent travel guide company is Let's Go, which was founded in 1960 and run by the students of Harvard University. The headquarters of the company are located in Cambridge. The first professional guide was published in 1961. Like other guides it was produced by student-writers, who traveled to various countries and described them. The rough copies were then sent to editors, improved and published. The student-writers travel mainly in summer, they are paid daily stipend to cover basic expenses. All the places from guide books were visited by student-writers, who give their recommendations concerning cafes, hotels, parks, waterfalls and museums. New travel guides include Peru, Ecuador and Vietnam. The company offers adventure guides to the Pacific Northwest and New Zealand.
Lonely Planet Publications is regarded to be the largest travel guidebook publisher, which is independently owned. The headquarters of the company are located in Melbourne, Australia. The first book "Across Asia on the Cheap" was published in 1973. The book was a success in Australia and spread quickly to other countries. As of 2004 Lonely Planet published more than 650 travel guides in 118 countries of the world. Its annual sales reach six million guidebooks, which makes nearly 25 percent of all guidebooks published in English. However the company's guidebooks are often criticized for being difficult to catch on.
Rough Guides Ltd is another travel guidebook, which covers about 200 destinations worldwide. Its books have been distributed by the Penguin Group since 1995. Rough Guides Ltd guidebooks give particular attention to coverage of music, sports, movies and shopping.
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