Books forum

One point to consider is that guidebooks provide a kind of safety net for many tourists. Even if you don't use the guide book every day and religiously i think people like the idea of having a guidebook there just in case they get in a situation they're not sure of or, perhaps they don't know where to go next. Even if the listings can be somewhat suspect, a lonely planet does provide information on a lot of places > what they actually are, what kind of sights/things to do are there...etc

I think the easy access to the internet will play an ever increasing role in travel but what happens if you arrive somewhere without internet or you're unsure how to get to the internet, it's dark, all you want to do is go to a hostel and crash out. You can just take out your guidebook and find out whats going on. You may have decided to go somewhere on a whim, without research and can't find the internet. There is also the issue that some people don't have an iPod/Phone or Laptop and if they do have one at home, they may not want to travel with it. It's good to get away from facebook and e-mail for a while so why bring all that with you? There are probably quite a lot of scenarios when i guidebook comes into it's own.

I'm not even a very big fan of guidebooks and tend to use the internet most of the time. I just thought the above was worth considering. I did find LP China to be invaluable for the month i was there.

There will always be a market for travel guide books (as long as we continue to have printed matter to hold in our hands). They answer a certain need, I think. The quality of writing and reportage varies widely, of course (i.e., Frommers vs. LP).

Typically, heading for somewhere I've never been before, I start with a guidebook that appeals to me and augment that with information from various websites and other sources. Among these is also travel literature (as opposed to guidebooks). People writing about "the kinds of things that can only be learned through spending time", as Somsai mentioned.