It’s a vast and lonely planet out there. But for those bitten by the travel bug, the way is well-charted. There’s information galore and the road is mapped to the maximum. The Internet is gaining ground on the information highway, but the printed word remains a favoured travelling companion.
In Calcutta stores, travel books become popular in the holiday season. And as people venture far and wide, the sales pick up pre-summer.
If Oxford Bookstore has sold about 200 travel guides in less than four weeks, at Crossword, sales in this category is up by 40 per cent. And at Landmark, it rises by 15-20 per cent every summer. “There’s exhaustive information packed into the guides. So, they’re really helpful for travellers in planning, from where to stay to eating out,” explains Sidharth Pansari of Crossword. “Sometimes, people also pick up basic language guides for foreign countries.”
Lonely Planet rules among the travel guides. Australia, New Zealand, Europe (especially the UK and Switzerland), North America (the US and Canada) and, of course, Southeast Asia (Thailand, Bali, Singapore and Malaysia) are the most popular categories.
While for the winter vacations Calcuttans do pick up travel guides to Indian destinations, in summer, they are mostly snapped up by foreign tourists exploring the country, like Rajasthan and trekking in the Himalayas.
“The Lonely Planet series is updated with the most recent information very regularly, which is why it’s so popular,” feels Gautam Jatia, CEO, Landmark. “But there are plenty of others, national and international — Eyewitness Guides, Rough Guides, Fodors, Let’s Go, National Geographic, Eicher city maps, Indian religious pilgrimage guides… Although the Internet is becoming popular, books still do well.”
More: telegraphindia.com
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