Friday, June 15, 2007

Travelling light

Although we are a marketing blog I wanted to go a little off tangent today to talk about a great new site that launched a few months ago, found through hostler.com.

I’m going to Malaga for my holidays this year to go on a Spanish language course for two weeks and during my weekends I want to do a little bit of travelling around and visit some friends who live nearby(ish). But, enough about me. The point is that I ordered a travel guide this week so that I can find out what the attractions are in the area and can decide what I want to do in my spare time while I’m there (I’m one of these people who likes to cram a million things into my holiday). So, I ordered a book on the whole of Spain as I reckon I’ll be visiting various areas over the coming years, but I’m sure there will be plenty of the guide that I never even cast my eyes over, such is the enormity of information these things provide.

Why am I telling you all this? Well, when I was blog surfing yesterday I came across a new site with a new approach to travel guides, from
DK Eyewitness Travel Guides. According to research, although 75% of travellers buy travel guides, they only actually read around 20% of the publication. So, 80% of the weight and space taken up by their guide could potentially be used for other things. In come DK, whose website offers users the chance to browse their destination online, organise information in their own personal guide and then download the guide for a small charge. And hey presto – customers have their own customized guide; minus all the boring bits you weren’t going to read anyway.

At the moment it’s only in the first phase and has a limited number of destinations to choose from, but there are a good number covered already and this will surely be added to and evolve as time goes on. Another exciting feature is the DK Travel Community where users rate and comment on the destinations they have visited, as the site grows in popularity this will undoubtedly become a great resource for travellers.

So, perhaps not strictly a post on marketing today, especially since I only heard of the site through another blog (I think a more concerted effort is needed by the team at DK Eyewitness Travel Guides to raise awareness of their great site), but I wanted to share the site with you. I’m sure I’ll be using it in the coming years and look forward to seeing how it develops over that time. Go check it out yourself.

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