Travel Research: Are Travel Guidebooks Still Useful in the Digital Age?

August 6, 2013 - 22 Replies

As more and more people use the Internet to do travel research, are travel guidebooks still useful and relevant? Do we need travel guidebooks anymore? With giant travel websites like Tripadvisor and Expedia, it made me wonder how much people use guidebooks these days. Recent research suggests that although most people are using the Internet as a source of travel information, most people still rely on travel guidebooks during their travels. Let’s take a look at a research article in the Journal of Travel Research.

Dash approves our guidebooks choices

Research Study: A 2011 published research study collected information from 196 overseas travelers from Hong Kong. The majority of travelers were traveling for leisure purposes. Travelers completed surveys about what information sources they used to help them plan their trip prior to travel, what sources they used while traveling, and what sources they used after travel. They were also asked to rate how influential each travel source was in helping them with their travel plans.

Research Findings: Interestingly, while more people actually reported using the Internet for travel, guidebooks were still rated as the most influential source of information by the travelers. The Internet and information from family and friends were the most common sources of information prior to travel, but guidebooks were the most commonly used both during and after travel. Interestingly, tourist offices and associations were considered the least influential source of travel information.

Here were the rankings from most important to least important source of travel information:

1. Travel guidebooks
2. Friends/relatives
3. Personal experience
4. Internet
5. Newspapers/magazines
6. TV/radio travel programs
7. Corporate/associates
8. Travel agencies
9. Tourist offices/associations

Top 5 Sources of Information Before Travel:

Internet (85%)
Friends/Relatives (82%)
Travel guidebooks (76%)
Newspapers/magazines (70%)
Travel agencies (57%) & Corporate/associates (57%)

Top 5 Sources of Information During Travel:

Travel guidebooks (76%)
Personal experience (54%)
Friends/relatives (32%)
Internet (28%)
Travel agencies (25%)

Top 5 Sources of Information After Travel:

Travel guidebooks (37%)
Personal experience (14%)
Internet (25%)
Friends/relatives (12%)
Corporate/associates (7%)

What does this mean? While the Internet is the most common source of travel information, people may not trust Internet sources as much as guidebooks and information from friends and family members. Also, during travel, when many people might not have consistent Internet access, guidebooks and other sources of information become more common. However, it is likely that these numbers are changing since this study was done in 2011 as more people now have smartphones and tablets with Internet access. It is interesting that most people don’t rely much on travel information offices and associations—likely because they tend to be more focused on promoting expensive travel options rather than providing unbiased information to help travelers.

I personally really enjoy choosing a good guidebook before a trip and we use them a lot for the planning phase, but we don’t always travel with them during our trips, depending on how familiar we are with the area. However, now with many travel guidebooks available in digital formats, it will be interesting to see if guidebooks are still able to stay relevant as people increasingly turn to travel websites to plan their trips.

What do you think—are travel guidebooks still relevant? Do you use them for any part of your travels? We’d love to hear your thoughts, just leave us a comment below.

Article: Tsang, N., Chan, G., & Ho, K. (2011). A holistic approach to understanding the use of travel guidebooks: Pre-, during, and post-trip behavior. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 28, 720-735. doi: 10.1080/10548408.2011.611741

Interested in reading more travel research posts, check out our Psychology of Travel section.

22 thoughts on “Travel Research: Are Travel Guidebooks Still Useful in the Digital Age?”

Gen August 7, 2013 at 10:40 am
I personally like travel guides for when I am doing the traveling. It is not always convenient to find access to the internet. So with a guide book in hand it makes it much easier to make sure I am able to get the experience I came for, as well as, find some cool things I did not expect,
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1. travelcats Post authorAugust 7, 2013 at 10:51 am
  Welcome Gen, and thanks for the comment. Even as an aspiring travel blogger, I also really love travel guidebooks. Since many guidebooks are now also available in digital formats, this also keeps them more relevant for those who travel with tablets, readers, laptops, and Smartphones. However, I personally still really like the actual printed copies:-)
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Richard August 8, 2013 at 2:05 am
I used guide books on several trips and found them very useful. But recently I bought a tablet (Nexus 7) that is fairly lightweight and portable and I don’t think I’ll go back! As long as where you’re staying has internet then there are loads of online resources to use for free without having to carry heavy books around. In some countries though, such as New Zealand there no free internet culture in hostels and hotels, so it’s probably worth taking a guidebook there…
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1. travelcats Post authorAugust 8, 2013 at 7:40 am
  Yes, despite my preference for actual books, I definitely think there are a lot of advantages to using tablets and readers for travel info on the go. Good point about some countries being more difficult to access wifi than others.
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Yogesh P. August 8, 2013 at 9:32 pm
Now-a-days, the Internet is becoming the source of information for all aspects of life. Travel information is no exception in this regard. I use the Internet and after that, comes the information from the friends and relatives.
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1. travelcats Post authorAugust 9, 2013 at 9:06 am
  Hi Yogesh, thanks for stopping by. Yes, Internet is certainly a powerful tool for travel research these days! Although other sources like friends and family are also very important to people.
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Shereen Travels Cheap August 25, 2013 at 8:09 pm
I do like to take smaller books with me when I travel to foreign countries, like the InsideOut guides with great pop-out maps and city highlights. I also still enjoy Lonely Planet guides, since they are written for more budget travelers than most other books out there. They focus on things real people would do or stay or eat and not just suggest 5-star accommodations that are hundreds of dollars a night. Most of my planning for trips is via the internet though. Probably 80%, at least.
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1. travelcats Post authorAugust 25, 2013 at 9:02 pm
  For budget food and stays, in addition to the ones you mentioned, we also usually check out Rough Guides (although sometimes a bit too hostel focused for us, or info is outdated) and Rick Steves for European destinations as he gives a good mix and updates most of his guides each year.
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Holly Nelson August 26, 2013 at 3:49 am
I love love love travel guides! I always use them. I always buy the rough guides and then as I am traveling I staple receipts and tickets etc into the appropriate pages so that they serve as a memory trail of my trip – somewhere cool to store mementos. I love having them on my bookshelf because I love the format of the books too! Great post!
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1. travelcats Post authorAugust 26, 2013 at 11:22 am
  Thanks Holly for stopping! That’s really neat how you use them to store ticket stubs and such in the pages to serve as mementos.
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Meredith September 9, 2013 at 9:12 pm
I’ve never really thought about this before, but I apparently fit in with the majority. The majority of my pre-travel planning is done online, but I almost always travel with an actual guide. I write down notes of things I may find on the internet and leave them in the relevant sections of the book for reference. I find there’s a comfort in knowing that I will a) always have access to a map and b) people are less likely to “walk away” with my travel guide v. a tablet. And they make great souvenirs/references post-trip 🙂
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1. travelcats Post authorSeptember 9, 2013 at 10:30 pm
  Yes, I think we have our travel planning strategies. Yours sounds like a nice mix of Internet, guidebook, and travel guide. It really is a good point that thieves are very unlikely to steal a map or printed guidebook compared to a tablet or Smartphone.
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Bonnie October 26, 2013 at 6:22 pm
Great article. I think I’m with the majority as well. I peruse the internet extensively when planning travel but I love a guidebook to travel with. I do have an IPad but depending on weather conditions or what’s in my hands, a tablet is not as easy as a guidebook. It wouldn’t be a big deal if I’d accidentally dropped my book.
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1. travelcats Post authorOctober 26, 2013 at 9:47 pm
  Yes, dropping or getting an IPad wet or stolen is a lot worse than a travel guide:) But an IPad is good for so many other things that taking both can be really helpful.
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M.Borgarbúi December 12, 2013 at 7:27 am
Since I like to “go with the flow” it’s really essential to have a guide book, but in this modern era it’s really hard to find books with good tips that are not oriented on main tourist attractions.
Even the Lonely Planet books fail to introduce good information about the places less known.
Since my first travel in 2004 I have learned, that it’s not good to rely only on guidebooks, internet “top 10 places to see” articles or friends. It’s way better to know a local person who could help you out. For example when I went to Paris, Eiffel Tower or Louvre Museum was not my priorities. I wanted to see Paris as it is for locals, but not as it was presented for tourists.
With a help of Facebook (or other social networks) and Couchsurfing platform it is not hard to find a “local” who would be happy to help and share some tips about his/her country.
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1. travelcats Post authorDecember 12, 2013 at 8:32 pm
  Yes, I love guidebooks but since thousands of people have the same ones, it is hard to have “undiscovered” places in them. However, I also like to combine my guidebook research with online research and recommendations from fellow travelers and locals of the area. I want to see the must-see places but also the off-the-beaten path places.
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Val-This Way To Paradise February 11, 2014 at 1:55 pm
I look at blogs and websites online to decide where to go, but when I’m actually traveling, I like to have a guidebook for when I’m out and about and not in front of my computer. I always ask cabdrivers and locals for advice, too, especially when it comes to deciding where to eat!
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1. travelcats Post authorFebruary 11, 2014 at 3:54 pm
  Yes, I am in Washington D.C. for a conference and was chatting with my cab driver, they are usually really good sources of information (provided you can both speak the same language!).
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jeremiah740 April 22, 2014 at 8:49 am
This is a really great post! I like how you ranked resources in order of importance both before, during and after the trip. I think that’s pretty significant. I can see this changing (as you pointed out in your post) with the popularity of smartphones and tablets, but finding a trustworthy travel source on the net is still not always easy.
Thanks again for this great post.
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1. travelcats Post authorApril 25, 2014 at 3:58 am
  Yes, I think especially as people having access to data and wi-fi as they travel becomes increasingly common, people will rely less on printed guidebooks. However, I can’t imagine not still loving a good guidebook:) I like having something reliable in my bag with maps, tips, and advice and you can’t always count on a phone or other device to work.
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Graham June 1, 2015 at 4:21 am
Guide books are simply easier and quicker to use when walking around unless you spend a lot of time creating bookmarks and filing online material for quick access. Admittedly younger people will do this a lot quicker than an old git like me but books don’t run out of battery power,or need a signal and can still be rescued if they get wet. No doubt it’s a bit of a generational thing, i imagine most teenagers will never instinctively buy a guidebook..
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1. travelcats Post authorJune 1, 2015 at 5:24 pm
  I still love guidebooks (and paper books in general) but I think you are correct about the age difference. I imagine teens and twenties today are much less likely to buy a guidebook than older folks. At least now you can access a lot of guidebooks digitally on tablets but it doesn’t have the same feel:)
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