I’m gone again

MARCH
14-15 – London, England
18-22 – Nigeria
23-30 – Senegal

APRIL
1-17 – South Africa (holiday)
6-10 – Otter Trail
18-21 – NCAA WAG Championships, Los Angeles

I’m traveling with Lonely Planet South Africa. The book, not the downloadable PDF chapters.

… Up until 2008, the guidebook industry had few signs that the bottom would soon fall out of their business. Sure, website usage was up — both on some of their own sites and digital-only competitors — and user-generated sites like TripAdvisor were eating some of their cake, but sales were solid.

In 2007, combined U.S. sales from the big five travel publishers that represent over 80% of the market (Frommer’s, Dorling Kindersley, Lonely Planet, Fodor’s, and Avalon’s Moon/Rick Steves) were just over $125 million, according to Stephen Mesquita’s “World Travel Guides Market” report for Nielsen BookScan. The following five years were tough, to say the least: By 2012 combined sales had dropped nearly 40% to $78 million. …

Lonely Planet and the rapid decline of the printed guidebook

Exclusive: BBC selling Lonely Planet to Kentucky cigarette billionaire Brad Kelley:

… What Kelley and his team plans to do with Lonely Planet is confounding insiders — including the irony that a historically environmentally forward-thinking brand like LP will now be owned by someone who made a fortune with cigarettes and now is a land-buying environmental conservationist.

Who knows?

I’m a lot more excited about Google buying Frommer’s for $23 million.