One of the most remarkable growth sectors in recent years has been that of tourism catering for the 'independent traveller'. In fact the independent traveller is quite likely to be travelling in a group with a guide. The 'independence' is more a question of getting off the beaten track and exploring remoter areas of the world.
In part this has been driven by improved communications; there are very few places now that cannot be reached by a cheapish flight followed by a drive in a locally-hired car. The other main factor is demographic - those baby boomers again, self-confident, affluent and ever-so-slightly jaded. They want new experiences and new challenges.
Parallel to this development, and probably helping to fuel it in no small measure, has been an equally remarkable growth in the travel publications serving this market. The original, and still the best, is the Lonely Planet series. Set up in the mid-1970s, this Australian-based outfit started with a book on South-East Asia which the authors - a footloose Englishman and his wife - had wanted for their own travels, but in the absence of which were forced to write themselves. Their suspicion that there might be others with similar information needs proved correct, and the enterprise has flourished. Among many other titles they now publish books on Tibet, Alaska, the Galapagos Islands and Papua New Guinea, and the list grows every year.
As the names above show, the Lonely Planet guides concentrate on areas of the world where travel has always been close to the original etymology of the word: 'travail', or suffering. Their brief is to provide the essential information to enable truly independent travellers to move around and find somewhere to stay. Along the way there are concise descriptions of what to see and rueful ones of what to avoid.
So successful has this formula been, and so well-judged are the books for their intended readers, that it is rare to see either seasoned or tyro travellers in these places without their trusty Lonely Planet to hand. Which of course brings its own problems.
For the very success of the guides has meant that hitherto unspoilt and almost touristless areas of the world are now increasingly frequented by the latter and are decreasingly the former. The nature of the books, which are quite judgemental about what to see and the best places to stay, means that everyone using them tends to follow the same routes, see the same sights, compete for the same lodgings. As a result, it turns out that the parts of the planet the guides open up are not lonely at all.
It would be nice to imagine the production of a new series of guide books, called perhaps the Lonelier Planet series. In them you would find all those hidden spots and amazing restaurants that even the Lonely Planet series misses. Except that as soon as these Lonelier Planet guides appeared, they too would be used, followed and rendered as self-defeating as their predecessor. It is inescapable tragedy of all tourism that it must destroy what it comes to love.
(28.12.91)
See also Moody's Black Notebook Travels
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