Lonely Planet

Information about Lonely Planet

Lonely Planet Publications
Private (subsidiary of BBC Worldwide)
GenreTravel guides
Founded1972
FounderTony Wheeler
Maureen Wheeler
HeadquartersFootscray, Victoria, Australia
Area servedWorldwide
IndustryPublications
Employees360
ParentBBC Worldwide
Website[1]
Lonely Planet Publications (usually known as Lonely Planet or LP) claims to be the largest independently-owned travel guidebook publisher in the world. It was the first popular series of travel books aimed at backpackers and other low-cost travelers. As of 2004, it published about 650 titles in 118 countries with annual sales of more than six million guidebooks.

Lonely Planet also has a television production company (Lonely Planet Television), which has produced and developed four series: Lonely Planet Six Degrees, The Sport Traveller, Going Bush and Vintage New Zealand. Another, Bluelist Australia, is on its way. Lonely Planet is headquartered in Footscray, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia.

History

Enlarge picture
A recent edition of Lonely Planet's guide to Australia.
Lonely Planet's first book, Across Asia on the Cheap, was written and published by Englishman Tony Wheeler, a former engineer at Chrysler Corp. and Warwick University and London Business School graduate, and his wife Maureen Wheeler in Sydney in 1973, following a lengthy jaunt across the continent from Turkey, through Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan before ending up in India or Nepal. The popularity of the overland route declined when Iran's borders closed in 1979. [1] [2] Written with panache and full of strong opinions, it sold well enough in Australia that it allowed the couple to expand it into South-East Asia on a shoestring, which remains one of the company's biggest sellers.

The company name comes from a misheard line in "Space Captain," a song by Joe Cocker and Leon Russell. The actual words are "lovely planet" but Tony Wheeler heard "lonely planet" and liked it.

Lonely Planet's first books catered to young people from Australia and Europe (mainly the UK) undertaking the overland hippie trail between Australia and Europe, via South-East Asia, the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East. This was becoming something of a rite of passage for young travellers, especially Australians and New Zealanders, who spent many months (or years) on the journey.

Tourist facilities were limited in most of the countries en route, and low-budget tourism was unheard of. This was the first (relatively) large-scale influx of first-worlders who took local buses in Thailand, ate at street stalls in India, or stayed with villagers in Afghanistan. The tips were not the first for the region - however by the late twentieth century they were a dominant feature of the market.

The Lonely Planet clientele developed a word-of-mouth affection for the company and its products. Reader feedback played an important part in keeping most of the guide books updated, Lonely Planet benefited from the Wheelers' skills as writers, publishers and businesspeople.

At the early stages of the Indonesia (Guidebook) produced by Lonely Planet the later dominance of the publisher was by no means obvious. Bill Dalton's Indonesia Handbook had achieved comprehensiveness by the late 1980s while Eric Oey's Insight Guides and Periplus editions (Singapore and Hong Kong based) were higher quality with colour photos and less compacted design than Daltons in the 1980s and 1990s. It was only by the end of the century and the demise of publishers or running out of print runs from the other publishers that Lonely Planet was able to dominate the Indonesian market.

Enlarge picture
Lonely Planet headquarters in Footscray


In September 2007, Lonely Planet was purchased by BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the British Broadcasting Corporation, with the Wheelers retaining a 25% stake in the company.[3]

Recent changes

The Lonely Planet guidebooks' voice has changed over the years as it has entered different markets, such as Western Europe, where many guidebooks exist. It can be said that the series now caters as much to middle-class travellers as backpackers. As of 2007, the Wheelers announced that they planned to sell the majority share (75%) in the company to BBC Worldwide, in order to spend more time travelling.[4] BBC Worldwide acquired majority control of the company on October 1, 2007.[5]

Lonely Planet's initial strength has caused some problems. In certain contexts many people equate Lonely Planet with backpackers. The 30th anniversary relaunch of its various series was intended to make clearer the split between the backpacker-only products and those (now the majority) aimed at more affluent travellers and tourists. The increasing professionalism of the management and the attempt to break into the massive United States market (which is relatively conservative and prone to litigation) have meant that the quirky, amateurish (in the best sense) tone of the books has diminished. For example, an early edition of Africa on a shoestring has the heading 'Drugs', which includes information on purchasing drugs (mainly marijuana), while the May 1980 edition of South-East Asia on a Shoestring includes information on how to purchase fake student ID cards. This would not be permitted in a Lonely Planet guidebook today. Other quirks included apparently hand-drawn maps and strong opinions (one book called the apartheid government in South Africa 'cretins' and 'narrow-minded psychotics'). The maps are now more professionally drawn. Some strong opinions remain - for example, in the 2003 edition of its guide of Brazil, São Paulo, one of the largest cities in the world, is served by only a few pages and heavily criticized as if it were not worth visiting.

Lonely Planet has also recognised the usefulness of the world wide web, and its free Thorn Tree web forum is used to trade tips and advice.

Official history

The founders, Tony and Maureen Wheeler, have written a book titled "Once While Travelling: The Lonely Planet Story" telling how they met and married, how they travelled from London to Australia overland and how Lonely Planet was formed.

See also

  • Globe Trekker The television series (also known as Pilot Guides) was inspired by and originally broadcast under the name Lonely Planet

Notes

1. ^ (July 20 2006) "Asia's overland route Hit the road, Jack". The Economist. 
2. ^ MacLean, Rory (June 29, 2006). Magic Bus. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-141-01595-8. 
3. ^ BBC buys Lonely Planet, The Age, 1 October 2007.
4. ^ [2] Adelaide Advertiser: Time to move on say Lonely Planet founders
5. ^ [3] BBC Trust: BBC Worldwide acquisition of Lonely Planet

External links

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The term privately held company refers to ownership of a business company in two different ways—first, referring to ownership by non-governmental organizations; and second, referring to ownership of the company's stock by a relatively small number of holders who do not trade
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BBC Worldwide Limited is the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in 1995. In the year to 31 March 2007 it had a turnover of £810.4m.
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A genre [ˈʒã:rə], (French: "kind" or "sort" from Greek: γένος (genos)) is a loose set of criteria for
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A guide book is a book for tourists or travelers that provides details about a geographic location, tourist destination, or itinerary. It is the written equivalent of a tour guide.
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An entrepreneur (a loanword from French introduced and first defined by the Irish economist Richard Cantillon) is a person who operates a new enterprise or venture and assumes some accountability for the inherent risks.
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Footscray
Melbourne, Victoria

Paisley Street in central Footscray

Population: 11,401 (2006)[1]

Postcode: 3011

Area: 5 km


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Anthem
Advance Australia Fair [1]


Capital Canberra

Largest city Sydney
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Industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent, industrious"), is the segment of economy concerned with production of goods. Industry began in its present form during the 1800s, aided by technological advances, and it has continued to develop to this day.
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The word publication means the act of publishing
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worldwide view.


A holding company is a company that owns part, all, or a majority of other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself, rather its only
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BBC Worldwide Limited is the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in 1995. In the year to 31 March 2007 it had a turnover of £810.4m.
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Backpacking is a term used to denote a form of low-cost independent international travel, differentiating it from other forms of tourism notably by the following typical attributes: minimal budget use, longer duration traveling, use of public transport and multiple
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Lonely Planet Six Degrees is Lonely Planet's flagship travel show, hosted by Asha Gill and Toby Amies. The show is centered on unique people living within locations, rather than simply famous tourist attractions, with one of the hosts meeting with one contact in a specific
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Footscray
Melbourne, Victoria

Paisley Street in central Footscray

Population: 11,401 (2006)[1]

Postcode: 3011

Area: 5 km


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Melbourne
Victoria

Location of Melbourne in Australia

Population:
• Density: 3,744,373 (2006 estimate) (2nd)
479.
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Anthem
Advance Australia Fair [1]


Capital Canberra

Largest city Sydney
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Chrysler LLC

Private
Founded June 6, 1925
Headquarters Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA

Key people Robert Nardelli, Chairman & CEO
Thomas W. LaSorda, Vice-Chairman & President
Jim Press, Vice-Chairman & President
Phil Murtaugh CEO of Asian Operations
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Leon Russell (born Claude Russell Bridges on April 2 1942 in Lawton, Oklahoma, United States) is a singer, songwriter, pianist, and guitarist. Russell attended Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
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The hippie trail is a term used to describe the journeys taken by hippies in the 1960s and 1970s from Europe, overland to and from eastern Asia. One of the key facts of the hippie trail was the desire to travel as cheaply as possible, mainly to extend the length of time away from
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Anthem
Phleng Chat
Royal anthem
Phleng Sansoen Phra Barami

Capital
(and largest city) Bangkok [1]

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Indonesia is a traveller's guide book first published in 1986 in Australia, which has since gone into 8 editions. It is a country-specific guidebook for Indonesia following on from the strength of the South East Asia
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Bill Dalton's Indonesia Handbook, published by Moon Publications in California, was the main English language tourist information guide book for the whole of Indonesia before the Lonely Planet book on Indonesia became the main guide book seen in the hands of foreign tourists in
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BBC Worldwide Limited is the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in 1995. In the year to 31 March 2007 it had a turnover of £810.4m.
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