Lonely Planet
| Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd. | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Proprietary company |
| founding | 1972 |
| Seat | Melbourne , Australia |
| Number of employees | 400 |
| Branch | publishing company |
| Website | www.lonelyplanet.com |
The Australian publisher Lonely Planet Publications (abbreviated to Lonely Planet or LP , German: "Einsamer Planet") claims to be the world's largest publisher of independent travel and language guides . The company's travel guides, which are now published to almost all countries, cities and regions, are particularly popular among backpackers . They appear in 14 languages (including English, French, German, Spanish and Hebrew). The total number of titles is around 650, the total circulation around 55 million. The publishing house employs over 400 people in its offices in Melbourne , Oakland , London and Paris and has a contingent of around 150 authors.
history
The publisher's first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap , was written by Tony Wheeler and Maureen Wheeler and published in 1973. After thorough revisions in subsequent editions, this book was finally called South-East Asia on a shoestring , which is still one of the publisher's bestsellers . In 1976 Nepal and Trekking in the Himalayas was published, followed in 1977 by a number of travel guides to Australia, Europe, Africa and New Zealand. The publisher describes the travel guide India (1981) as a “big break”, which quickly became a bestseller. At the time, Lonely Planet only employed ten people.
The name is based on a " interrogator " by Tony Wheeler, who while listening to the song Space Captain by Joe Cocker and Leon Russell in the film Mad Dogs & Englishmen in the text passage "once while traveling across the sky this lovely planet caught my eye" ( once when I traveled through the sky, this delightful planet caught my eye) instead of “lovely planet” I understood the words “lonely planet”.
The publisher's first extremely successful books were aimed primarily at young people from Australasia and Europe (especially from Great Britain) planning trips on the overland route between Australia and Europe (“ hippie trail ”) via Southeast Asia, India and the Middle East . Tourist infrastructure - especially for low-budget tourists - only existed to a limited extent in most countries on this route. Thus there was a relatively large influx of First World nationals into the closer living environment of residents of developing countries . The travelers used so z. B. Intercity buses in Thailand, catered for at street stalls in India or found accommodation with villagers in Afghanistan etc. The advice in the Lonely Planet guides was therefore seen as essential in order to avoid health problems, intercultural difficulties etc.
The coincidence of a new and rapidly growing tourism market and the existence of a publisher specializing in the target group of backpackers led to a specific relationship between travelers, which was and is mediated through the publisher by creating a Art community platform. The feedback from readers thus plays an important role in the update; Publishing products in which this information was taken up contain long lists of those lists that have drawn attention to outdated and / or incorrect information, etc. in the guides and / or provided the publisher with new information.
Property development
The growing professionalization of publishing management and the attempt to get into the lucrative but conservative (and thus also involving increased dangers of litigation) market in the United States, increasingly changed the originally amateur-family style of travel guides over the years. For example, tips on safe cannabis acquisition have disappeared from the Africa on a shoestring guide .
The publisher's initial strength as the market leader for low-budget tourism literature resulted in certain problems due to the identification of backpacking and the Lonely Planet in everyday understandings, especially in Anglophone countries. The group has been trying to avoid this restriction for years in order to attract and retain more middle-class tourists as a clientele. One of the strategies was the introduction of various series of travel guides for the 30th anniversary of the publisher, which should make the separation of products for backpackers on the one hand and products for more demanding and financially strong travelers clearer. In addition, Lonely Planet expanded its product range to include items designed to enable “travel at home”, such as travel reports, calendars, illustrated books and music CDs, as well as some merchandising items.
The publisher is represented on the Internet with forums and travel tips. There is also the Lonely Planet Images service , which sells travel photos from all over the world. The publisher recently also owns a television production called Lonely Planet Television , which has produced the Lonely Planet Six Degrees , The Sport Traveler and Vintage New Zealand series.
On October 2, 2007 it was announced that BBC Worldwide, a subsidiary of the British broadcaster BBC , had acquired the majority of Lonely Planet Publications in September 2007. The publishing founders Tony and Maureen Wheeler continued to hold a quarter in the company. In February 2011, the BBC paid 67.2 million Australian dollars (around 50 million euros) to the publisher's founders for the remaining 25 percent. The publisher was 100 percent owned by the BBC. In March 2013 the BBC sold the publisher to the US-American NC2 group for the equivalent of 60 million euros.
criticism
Frequent criticism is aimed at the travel guides' encouragement to travel to even the smallest ethnic minorities in developing countries. These minorities would be severely disturbed in their social structure and special economy by the incoming tourism and, as it were, overwhelmed, making them dependent on Western travelers, to whom they alone are regarded as exotic attractions.
In Great Britain, the tourism-critical group Tourism Concern and the Burma Campaign project criticized the Lonely Planet travel guide to Myanmar (Burma) , claiming that it makes trips to a country whose military dictatorship is largely financed by tourism. The request was made to remove the travel guide from the market, even though it also contains information about the local political situation, draws attention to critical voices about Myanmar tourism and allows the Burmese opposition member Ma Thanegi to speak. On February 4, 2011, the country installed a civilian president as head of state.
In April 2008, the author of the Colombia travel guide admitted that he had never been there and only knew the information from hearsay. As a justification, he gave underpayment by the publisher.
Germany
The MairDumont-Verlag from Ostfildern has meanwhile published several titles - with the same font and structure, now in dark blue-turquoise with the imprint "German Edition" - at prices similar to the originals. In addition to European destinations such as Italy, Ireland, Bulgaria, Norway and cities such as Berlin or London, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Thailand and India are also among them.
A limited number of travel guides were translated by Gisela E. Walther Verlag ( Bremen ) and published - with a delay that has often been criticized. In addition, the Berlin-based Stefan Loose publishing house (now part of the DuMont publishing house ) works closely with the publishing house.
Web links
- Lonely Planet Germany website
- Lonely Planet website
- Lonely Planet Images website
- Article in “Die Zeit” for the 30th anniversary
- The daily mirror on the history of the Lonely Planet
- Article on Campaigns Against Travel to Burma and Lonely Planet Travel Guide by TourismWatch
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.lonelyplanet.de/ueberlonelyplanet/
- ↑ Article in the star
- ↑ "Lonely Planet" is now entirely owned by the BBC
- ↑ Cult travel guide: BBC sells Lonely Planet with huge losses. spiegel.de from March 19, 2013, accessed on March 19, 2013
- ↑ Dark shadows on the "Lonely Planet" welt.de on April 18, 2008, accessed on March 12, 2019