Why Online Travel Guides Rock

It's cheap to buy online travel guides. Most are free or only a few dollars, while paper books are very expensive. Even iPhone apps, some of which are quite pricey, come with lots of added bonuses, like Geolocation, which make them very worthwhile. PDF travel guides range from completely free to a couple of dollars ... much cheaper than a $20+ dead-tree edition.

Print guidebooks tend to be out of date before they hit the shelves. The traditional publishers' research, writing, fact-checking, typesetting, printing, binding, shipping, retailing cycle is very long ... sometimes more than 12 months between someone walking out of a cafe and the information hitting the bookshelves. Online travel guides tend to be more-up-to-date, as a the production costs of an online guide book are quite low, changes can be made more easily.

A connected web of information is vitally important for online travel guides. Because we all have particular areas of interest, a good online travel guide will point you towards trusted information sources and allow you to dig deeper with one click. As more new media publishers connect with services like augmented reality, curated video libraries and photo pools, there will be plenty of expert and crowd-sourced advice readily available.

Online guidebooks are much lighter and, in many cases, smaller than their offline counterparts. A traditional paper guidebook is both heavy and large, while an online guide is the same size as your reading device ... which you're probably already using to communicate with, take photos with, and surf the internet with. Staring at a mobile screen is unlikely to make you look like a tourist ... unlike pulling out your guidebook at every street corner.

The variety and quality of online travel guides are growing rapidly. Many traditional publishers have been slow to move their information online, fearing the cannibalism of their paper book sales, but now they are rushing to provide downloadable PDFs and smartphone apps. As more independent publishers spring up and large companies put their information online, you'll be able to find more information, better suited to your needs and at the right price for you.

Article Source: TravelFreeGuides.com

About the Author

Looking to find the best deal on online travel guides, then visit http://indietravelpodcast.com to pick up a free Saigon travel guide and more.

by: Mark Edwards

Total views: 1 Word Count: 357 Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2010 Time: 12:56 PM - 0 comments

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