Death of the Guidebook: Lost in a Cutthroat World

Chris Taylor calls “desk updates” the travel guidebook industry’s “dirty secret.” “In times past, the only way to research a guidebook was to actually go there—the alternative, plagiarising another guidebook, was, and still is, difficult to cover up. Today, you can sit at home and Google the town you might otherwise be exploring on foot, and hopefully some random blogger has done the legwork for you.” But the dirty part is not the fact that they stayed at home, it is the misrepresentation of the source of their expertise and the betrayal of their readers’ trust. They should learn from the best bloggers: write everywhere (including from home), borrow from everyone, give credit where it’s due, and add value to the conversation from your own genuine experiences.