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Travel guides
旅行指南书
Not going anywhere
哪里都不去
Despite predictions that the internet would kill them, guidebooks are proving robust.
尽管有人预言互联网将杀死旅行指南书，但它们依然坚挺。
They declared that it was dead—or, if it wasn’t dead yet, it soon would be.
他们宣称旅行指南书已经死了，如果它还没死，那么很快就会死去。
The cause of the malady was viral: first blogs, then influencers on Instagramand TikTok.
带来绝症的原因是病毒式的：先是博客，然后是Instagram和TikTok上的网红。
Yet, for all journalists’ poor prognoses, the printed travel guide is still in fine fettle.
然而，尽管所有记者都做出了糟糕的预测，但印刷版的旅行指南仍然状况良好。
Sales in Britain were mostly flat in 2014-19, a period when smartphones became both ubiquitous and powerful.
2014至2019年，英国的旅行指南书销售额基本持平，这段时期智能手机变得无处不在且功能强大。
That is not to say there have not been spells of ill health.
这并不是说没有出现过状况不佳的时期。
Frommer’s, the grandfather of American guidebooks, was sold in 2012 for $22m to Google, which reportedly planned to end the series’ print run.
美国旅行指南书的鼻祖“弗罗默旅行指南”于2012年以2200万美元的价格卖给了谷歌，据说谷歌计划终止该系列的印刷版。
(The following year Arthur Frommer, its founder, bought the company back.)
（第二年，创始人阿瑟·弗罗默将公司买了回来。）
Lonely Planet, the best-known publisher, has been through several owners at ever-lower valuations.
最知名的出版商孤独星球以越来越低的估价被转卖多次。
In 2020 the company ended up in the hands of Red Ventures, a publishing house funded by private equity.
在2020年，该公司最终落入了“红色冒险”手中，这是一家由私人股本出资的出版公司。
The one virus that did come close to killing guides off was covid-19.
确实几乎要杀死旅行指南的病毒是新冠病毒。
Guidebook publishers saw 95-99% of revenues evaporate when lockdowns hit.
开始封锁后，旅行指南出版商发现，他们95%-99%的收入都蒸发了。
Yet in both America and Britain, the biggest markets for English-language guides, sales are approaching pre-pandemic levels.
然而，在美国和英国这两个英语指南的最大市场，销售额正在接近疫情前的水平。
Last year Americans bought 5.8m guidebooks and maps—down from 6.9m before the pandemic, but up from 4m in 2020.
去年美国人购买了580万本旅行指南和地图，低于疫情前的690万本，但高于2020年的400万本。
Any obituaries, then, are premature.
因此任何对旅行指南的讣告都为时过早。
But why do guidebooks still roll off the presses when all the information you could need is in your pocket?
但是，当你需要的所有信息都在你口袋里的手机上时，为什么旅行指南还在不断出版呢？
One answer is that print is a useful medium for information on the go.
一个答案是，印刷品对于随时获得信息来说是一种有用的媒介。
Books can be scribbled on and dog-eared; they need no charging or internet access.
人们可以在书本上写写画画和折角，书本不需要充电或联网。
They can be easier to browse than social media, websites or e-books (and attract less attention from pickpockets).
它们比社交媒体、网站或电子书更便于浏览（而且不太会引起扒手的注意）。
Another is that guidebooks have changed with the times.
另一个答案是，旅行指南已经随着时代而改变了。
Rick Steves, the author of America’s bestselling guides to European destinations, published his first guidebook 44 years ago.
里克·史蒂夫斯是美国畅销欧洲旅行指南的作者，他在44年前出版了第一本旅行指南。
He still personally researches many of his books, which offer a lot of information in small type.
他现在仍然对他的许多指南书亲自调查资料，这些书以小字体提供了大量信息。
His publishers, being more business-minded, also produce pocket guides, which take those tips and enliven them with photographs.
他的出版商更具商业头脑，还制作了袖珍指南，袖珍版收录了许多小建议，并通过照片使内容生动起来。
Double-dipping is one way to boost profits; many other publishers do it.
重复出版收费是提高利润的一种方式，许多其他出版商也这样做。
A more dramatic adaptation is visible in the newest editions of Lonely Planet’s flagship guides, which look like someone printed out an Instagram account.
更具戏剧性的改编可见于孤独星球旗舰指南的最新版本，这个版本看起来像是有人把Instagram账号打印了出来。
The books relegate restaurant and hotel listings to the margins.
书中将餐厅和酒店清单挪到了书页边缘处。
Nitya Chambers, Lonely Planet’s executive editor, says the overhaul was driven by market research that showed that readers “have more information than ever before” on eating and stays, but are looking for things to do.
孤独星球的执行编辑妮提娅·张伯斯表示，此次改革是由市场调研推动的，调研表明，读者在餐饮和住宿方面“比以往任何时候都有更多的信息”，但他们需要关于游览活动的信息。
Sales data support Lonely Planet’s claim.
销售数据支持孤独星球的说法。
Guides that focus on food and accommodation are falling out of favour in Britain according to Stephen Mesquita, the author of the Nielsen Bookscan Travel Publishing Yearbook, an industry bible.
据行业圣经《尼尔森图书扫描旅游出版年鉴》的作者斯蒂芬·梅斯基塔称，在英国，专注于餐饮和住宿的旅行指南正逐渐失宠。
Between 2019 and 2023, sales of such guides for domestic destinations were down by 49% and by 20% for overseas ones.
2019年至2023年间，这种对国内旅行的指南销售额下降了49%，海外旅行指南的销售额下降了20%。
If print books are no longer selling comprehensiveness, then what is it they are selling?
如果印刷书籍的卖点不再是信息全面，那么它们的卖点是什么呢？
One answer is authenticity.
一个答案是真实性。
“I can’t help people that just want to do what everybody else does,” Mr Steves says.
“对于那些只想随大流旅行的人，我提供不了什么帮助。”史蒂夫斯说。
Another is curation.
另一个答案是对信息的筛选。
“The more content out there, the better for guide publishers,” says Rene Frey, who publishes Rough Guides and Insight Guides.
“外面的信息越多，对旅行指南出版商就越好。”出版《易行指南》和《深度指南》的勒内·弗莱说。
Trust—or, rather, brand—is important.
信任——或者说品牌——是很重要的。
Mr Frommer, Mr Steves and Lonely Planet’s founders, Tony and Maureen Wheeler, all produced their first guides decades ago, in an era when both international travel and self-publishing were expensive and rare.
弗罗默、史蒂夫斯和孤独星球的创始人托尼和莫琳·惠勒夫妇都是在几十年前创作了他们的第一本旅行指南，当时出国旅行和自费出版都是既昂贵又罕见的。
That allowed them to stand out and build businesses.
这使他们能够脱颖而出并创立公司。
Now, thanks to cheap air fares and social media, anyone can opine on eateries on the other side of the world.
如今，因为有了廉价机票和社交媒体，任何人都可以对世界另一端的餐厅发表意见。
But wannabe travel writers will find that it is hard to gain traction online.
但是，想要成为旅行作家的人会发现，在网上很难获得关注。
One market in which guidebooks have struggled is China, the world’s biggest spender on outbound tourism.
旅行指南书一直生意惨淡的一个市场是中国，中国是世界上最大的出境旅游消费国。
On June 26th Lonely Planet announced that it was closing its China branch after ten years.
6月26日，孤独星球宣布在中国运行十年后，将关闭其在中国的分支。
Many Chinese travel as part of organised tours, so see no need for guides; younger travellers are more likely to organise their own itineraries, but rely on digital resources rather than books.
许多中国人选择跟团旅行，因此不需要指南书，年轻旅行者更有可能自己规划行程，但依赖数字资源而不是书籍。
The most popular app for tourists is Xiaohongshu, which Rest of World, a digital news outlet, describes as “a cross between a niche subreddit, a Tripadvisor page and a video game”.
最受游客欢迎的应用程序是小红书，数字新闻媒体“世界其余地方”将小红书描述为“Reddit小众子论坛、猫途鹰页面和视频游戏的混合体”。
Gaode, a map app, offers user-generated lists of “must-visit sites”.
高德地图应用程序提供用户生成的“必打卡景点”列表。
Perhaps, in time, similar apps may take off in the West.
或许假以时日，类似的应用程序可能会在西方流行起来。
Artificial intelligence is another incipient challenge.
人工智能是另一个刚出现的挑战。
Like a good guide, AI’s promise is that it can do the tedious research and produce a precis.
就像一位优秀的导游一样，人工智能承诺它可以进行繁琐的资料调查，然后生成摘要。
Frommer’s, for its part, experimented with using AI to offer tailor-made answers to travellers’ questions, but found that it was making things up too often to be useful.
弗罗默旅行指南曾尝试用人工智能为游客的问题提供量身定制的答案，但发现AI经常编造内容，因此没什么用。
Nothing makes a traveller reach for their trusty guidebook more than a bogus tip.
没有什么比虚假的旅行建议更能让旅行者去伸手拿他们信赖的旅行指南书了。
