Brand News

Despite numerous branding efforts over the years, even mega-houses like Random House, St. Martin's and DK still aren't household names. Their travel lines, however—Fodor's, Let's Go and Eyewitness—are. In large measure, that's because travelers, unlike other readers, buy differently. "A lot of customers buy by brand," observes Candida Mannozzi, owner of Candida's World of Books, a one-year-old 1,000-sq.-ft. travel specialty store in Washington, D.C.'s Logan Circle neighborhood. "I carry a wide range of travel books, and I've noticed that there's a lot of brand loyalty." And there are many different types of travelers for Mannozzi and other booksellers to satisfy, from outdoorsy adventurers to families off for a weekend to business folk heading overseas.

"We have such an eclectic clientele," notes Sandye Wexler, co-owner of Chicago's The Savvy Traveller, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary in November. "There's no single guidebook series that stands out. So much depends on what's available for the customer's destination and the customer's style of travel. Overall, our top sellers are Lonely Planet, Rick Steves, Michelin, Frommer's, Fodor's, Blue Guides, DK, Moon Handbooks and Rough Guides. Footprint Handbooks are gaining a foothold in the marketplace as well." Her own tastes, she says, closely parallel those of her customers. "My personal favorites are the Michelin, Blue Guides and DK Eyewitness for background and sightseeing; Frommer's, Fodor's and Zagat for lodging and dining. I never travel with less than three guidebooks—and usually more."

What's in a Name?

As far as picking out one or two top-selling series, that's not a problem for Elaine Petrocelli, co-owner of Book Passage in Corte Madera and San Francisco, Calif. "Lonely Planet [whose U.S. offices are in nearby Oakland] is definitely our bestselling guidebook," she says. "They have an attitude, and you feel like you really have a guide with you. Of course, the other positive is that they have a guidebook to everywhere."

Across the country, at The Globe Corner Bookstores in Cambridge, Mass. (and on the Web at GlobeCorner.com), Lonely Planet has also supplanted other travel book series. "One reason," says Globe Corner president Pat Carrier, whose Lonely Planet sales went up 16% in 2004, "is their geographic coverage. There is no one close to them. The other factor is Lonely Planet has been very successful at extending their brand. They started for backpackers; they're now the mainstream publisher. When someone comes into our store, they may not buy a Lonely Planet guide, but they'll expect that there is one."

As far as destinations go, "South America continues to trend upward," says Carrier, "because it represents an alternative to Europe for U.S. travelers." However, he and other booksellers expressed surprise at the continued strength of European travel, especially given the current exchange rate, which at this writing was $1.3109 = 1 euro. Of course, it's too soon to predict what will happen to travel to Asia in the wake of the tsunami. But most travel book publishers, like Douglas Amerine at DK in London, who was in Asia when the tidal wave hit, are already at work on revising guides to India and Thailand, which have become popular destinations in recent years.

Pretty much anyplace hot works at this time of year for the 3,600-sq. ft. Little Professor Book Center in Fenton, Mich., 60 miles northwest of Detroit. Co-owner Laura Carpenter says the store does well with Florida destinations and cruises, as well as New York City guides. "It's probably a really close race for us between Fodor's and Frommer's," says Carpenter. "We usually have more than one option for each destination."

At 22-year-old general retailer Beaucoup Books in New Orleans, which has a strong selection of travel titles, the top five series are Lonely Planet, Eyewitness (especially for Europe), Fodor's, Frommer's and Rough Guides. Owner Mary Price Dunbar also singles out the Karen Brown Guides to inns and bed-and-breakfasts in Europe, North America and Mexico as "unique, steady sellers." Coming off her best year ever, Dunbar is readying the store for a move 15 blocks away. In the new location (opening February 1), Dunbar plans to experiment with shelving some travel books by brand. Inspired by the new look of Fodor's Gold Guides, she's going to group them together, along with the Karen Brown Guides, which are also sold by Random House.

Perhaps it's not surprising that Rick Steves is the "hands-down" favorite at Scott's Bookstore in Mount Vernon, Wash., given that he lives about 30 miles away, in Edmonds. "In addition to being local," says store manager Megan Scott O'Bryan, "our local PBS station runs his television shows weekly or daily. Rick's guides are my favorite. I like them because they're not Holiday Inn—traveling, but they're not so far off the beaten path that you can't get back."

O'Bryan also names Eyewitness as one of her top sellers, because of its many photographs and diagrams. For Joan Ripley, owner of Second Story Book Shop in Chappaqua, N.Y., part of the appeal of this illustrated series from DK is the fact that "you can enjoy the books afterward." When air travel took a hit in the wake of September 11, Ripley consolidated her travel section and kept three spinner racks—one for Eyewitness, one for Fodor's and one for Rough Guides. "We used to carry absolutely everything," says Ripley, who can fill customer requests for missing guidebooks overnight. Given her upscale customer base, one series from which she stocks just a single title is the student-oriented Let's Go; she carries Let's Go Europe."Travel books are something you really can sell more than one of to people," says Sydne Waller, buyer at Chapter 11 Books, which recently opened its 16th store in the Atlanta area. "The books don't overlap. When I was working in the store, I'd say get an Eyewitness to put in your suitcase and get a Rough Guide and put it in your backpack." For all the stores, Waller says, "I try to carry a broad selection of the common destinations—London, Paris, New York."

Flocking Together

During the holidays, Page One Bookstore in Albuquerque, N.Mex., made a commitment to try to get travelers to buy more than just maps and guidebooks. The travel section, which is in the back of the store, groups books by continent and country. Within those groupings, explains inventory manager Adrian Bee, "we're experimenting by mixing in fiction, travel adventure and the odd photography book and cookbook. We're also integrating the travel magazines." Although it's too soon to tell what kind of impact the reshelving will have on sales long term, Bee is optimistic. "I definitely think travel book sales are picking up," he tells PW. "People are feeling more confident about traveling."

Kathryn Henderson, owner of two-year-old Market Street Books & Maps in Chapel Hill, N.C., made an even more drastic renovation of her travel selection. She closed her travel-only bookstore, World Traveler Books & Maps, to set up a general bookstore with an emphasis on travel in the city's Southern Village neighborhood. Now she stocks fiction, nonfiction and children's books, as well as travel titles and maps.

Taking Off

It's not just Bee who sees travel book sales on the rise. According to PW's informal survey of booksellers and publishers, sales are definitely back. Granted, they're not at the halcyon pre—9/11 levels, but 2004 sales were up dramatically. At the same time, dire predictions made over the past few years that the Internet would make guidebooks obsolete have not come to pass, although the Internet does play an important role for booksellers and publishers.

"We're not quite back to the glory years," opines Globe Corner's Carrier. "But it's a lot better." Book Passage, too, reports strong sales. "People in our neighborhood feel travel is a necessity, not a luxury," says Petrocelli, adding that her store does lots of travel-book—related events—"People want to talk to an expert about trips they're planning." In addition, Book Passage helps train would-be experts via its annual Travel Writers and Photographers Conference (the 14th will be held in August). One former attendee, syndicated columnist Elliott Neal Hester, was inspired to write his first book, Plane Insanity: A Flight Attendant's Tales of Sex, Rage, and Queasiness at 30,000 Feet (St. Martin's, 2003), and is at work on a new one.

Things are looking up, too, on the publishing side. "We had a very good year," says Fodor's publisher Tim Jarrell. "Sales were up in the double digits." Avalon Travel Publishing experienced a 15% increase in sales last year, according to publisher Bill Newlin. And Lonely Planet, which marked the 20th anniversary of LP USA with a tour of independent bookstores last spring, also had an excellent year. In the words of v-p of marketing and business development Robin Goldberg, "People are realizing the value of a guidebook. We've had a record year, the best year we've ever had in the Americas."

To achieve strong sales and keep their brands fresh, travel book publishers continually need to reinvent their series. As Jarrell puts it, "Having a strong brand is enough to make someone reach for your book. But the actual sale is made in the bookstore, and the publisher's challenge is to deliver on that promise." To meet that challenge, Fodor's is revamping its Gold Guides. Starting last fall, with its 2005 releases, the covers of the publisher's flagship series began to look a little more, well, golden, with a yellow-orange cover and spine that more closely resembles 24-karat gold. The books are also being printed on higher-quality paper to give them a richer feel.

Net News and Makeovers

While the Internet has not supplanted books, many travel book publishers view their Web sites as an integral part of their marketing efforts. "I feel strongly that people will continue to use books," says Jarrell, adding that the company "will be making more changes in our Fodors.com site throughout the year. We want the Web site and the books to go together." For him, this is just one more way to freshen the Fodor's brand, which he describes as geared to people with "limited means," as opposed to budget travelers. "They may want a good meal; they may want a good hotel to get the most out of their trip. We cover destinations that most people want to go to," says Jarrell.

When it come to the Internet, Lonely Planet may be the publisher to beat. Its site (www.LonelyPlanet.com) has won Webbies in each of the past three years and, when the tsunami hit, the company immediately added threads for reporting missing people and found people on its Thorn Tree Web forum. For Goldberg, however, what distinguishes the Lonely Planet brand is the commitment to "the Lonely Planet way" throughout the organization. "It's our absolute authority in travel and our attitude—tell it like it is and have fun with it," she says. Lonely Planet updates most of its guidebooks every other year, although those to out-of-the-way places, such as the newly released guide to East Timor, which was published in November, are on a three-year schedule.

Updating is an important component of DK's Eyewitness brand. According to Amrine, there are 25 destinations that get updated every year—including New York, London and Paris—and another 30 that are revised every other year. Like Lonely Planet, less popular destinations, such as Warsaw and Sardinia, are reissued every three years. But the thrust of the guides remains the same: the marrying of photos and text.

Last year, DK introduced a new typeface for its Eyewitness Guides. This year, the biggest change in its travel book program involves marketing. "I completely overhauled the look of the ads, which we tested last June in the New Yorker," says director of marketing Carl Raymond. The campaign, which will run in Travel & Leisure,acknowledges that while everyone experiences travel differently, they can still enjoy DK guides: "Eyewitness Travel Guides, See It Our Way."

Connecting Flights

While Lonely Planet, Eyewitness and Fodor's target worldwide travelers, many brands are more tightly focused. For example, the London-based Time Out Guides, which evolved from the arts and entertainment Time Out magazines for London and New York City, concentrate primarily on trips to urban destinations. That changed earlier this month, however, with the company's release of its first state guide—Time Out California— which features a new set of "Disc Drive" sidebars that will appear in future books and provide travelers with suggestions for music to listen to on the road.

The target audience for the guides, says U.S. marketing and publicity manager Rosella Albanese, is "anyone that's really into getting a local experience when they travel, the culturally savvy reader. The writing is very quick-witted and fun." Most Time Out Guides are updated every two years, but like most publishers, key destinations get an annual once-over. Albanese is pleased with the positive impact on sales that resulted from the company's shift in distribution to PGW in September. And she's looking for an additional increase in exposure in late March with the launch of the company's newest magazine, Time Out Chicago.

While Time Out is hip and urban, Rick Steves' Guides concentrate on practical information for visiting Europe. Avalon's Newlin characterizes his house's collaboration with Steves, which began when Avalon acquired publisher John Muir in early 2000, as "very gratifying. We have every expectation of being their long-time partner." The two groups work together so closely that it's no coincidence that Steves's publicist was with Avalon. In recent years, the Steves brand, which concentrates exclusively on European destinations, has gained recognition far beyond the West Coast, where his 60-person organization is based. When Globe Corner hosted an event with Steves in December, "we were a little surprised by the rock-star status he has among the travel audience," says Carrier. "Steves appeals to a very specific type of traveler, someone who wants an itinerary-driven trip."

Like all travel brands, the key to success involves developing trust. One way Steves does that is through his travel tour operation; another is by updating his guidebooks every year. Newlin acknowledges that Steves's hands-on involvement does have one drawback: "It limits us to destinations that can sustain that level of sales." That hasn't, however, stopped Avalon from extending the Steves line. This spring, the publisher will introduce Rick Steves' Planning Maps. Newlin expects to publish about five or six to start, beginning with maps of France, Italy and Britain/Ireland.

In addition to the tours, PBS viewers can meet Steves through his TV series, which he has produced himself for the past five years. (Past shows are available on DVD.) Recently, Steves has begun ramping up his publicity in other ways. Last summer, he was profiled in the New York Times Magazine, and he's scheduled to appear next month on 60 Minutes II. Steves maintains an active e-mail list of 175,000 names and also writes a column several times a year for USA Today. Earlier this month, he began taping for a new project, the radio show Travel with Rick Steves, which will air in the Seattle market. He hopes to syndicate it nationally later this year. Steves also maintains a very active Web site (www.ricksteves.com) with a bulletin board.

Ultimately, however, the success of Steves, Fodor's, Lonely Planet and other guides depends on the trust, accuracy and timeliness of each brand. Marketing promotions with retailers both online and off play a role, as do ongoing revisions of covers, artwork and type. As always, what each brand offers is a chance to help travelers explore a new place and experience another culture, from Alaska to Zanzibar and all points in between.

Travel Forecast Summary

Future IndicativeTravel publishers, like reference publishers, live or die by the subtle innovations and improvements they introduce into their products. With an eye always to the competition, they are unlikely to tout new initiatives before they reach the marketplace. Nevertheless (and ever hopeful), we asked the publishers of some major houses to tell us what one thing they are doing to firm up their share of the market. Here's what we learned. Lonely PlanetFrom his base in Melbourne, Australia, global publisher Simon Westcott has a closer view of the destruction wrought by last month's tragedy than publishers in the U.S. "The single most important thing we're working on is a sustained response to the terrible tsunami in Asia," Westcott says. Lonely Planet sends its authors back on the road for every edition, he explains, "so we are now getting existing and new authors back into the region to gather the most up-to-date, practical information for travelers possible. We'll also be tapping into our online community, who have been incredibly active over the past few weeks. We want to focus on the renewal process ahead and responsibly encourage continued travel to the region. Expect a lot of innovative publishing online and in print over the coming months." Rough GuidesAt Rough Guides, special attention is also going to Southeast Asia, along with business as usual, says publisher Mark Ellingham. "This year sees a big leap for Rough Guides' new compact series, Directions. We are publishing 19 new titles, adding such cities as Madrid, Rome and New Orleans, and resort destinations like Cancún, Maui and the Dominican Republic, to make this a key resource for short breaks. On a sad—but also, I hope, positive—note, we'll be sending our writers back to Southeast Asia in the winter to research the reconstruction of their local tourism, and will overhaul our guides to the region." Frommer'sPresident and publisher Michael Spring, who doesn't want to be too specific about changes, tells PW, "Look for major enhancements to the Frommer's Complete guides in the fall, including a new trim size, more color and more maps." The company is redesigning its Unofficial Guides, adding a second color and improving the maps to give them a more contemporary edge. "The biggest news," Spring says, "is the fall release of our first full-color series in a portable format, the Day by Days. This is the first travel series that not only lists attractions but shows travelers how to organize their time in the most time-efficient, cost-conscious way." National GeographicA renewed emphasis at National Geographic will be on the national parks, says publisher Elizabeth (Symmie) Newhouse. "While readers look to National Geographic to take them to exotic destinations, we also want to show them enticing places in their own backyards. This year we are publishing four fully illustrated and mapped regional guides to the national parks, West, Southwest, Alaska, and East & Midwest, expanding a list of parks titles that includes the bestselling Guide to the National Parks of the U.S." Let's Go/St. Martin's"The biggest new project at Let's Go this year is our Roadtripping USA book, which comes out in April," says project editor Tom Mercer. "We got a great early response from booksellers, and we've also sent out galleys. We wanted to be more responsive to the needs of road-trippers, which represent a growing market—AAA estimates that domestic road travel was up 3% in 2004. The content mixes Let's Go's budget-conscious style with a host of new features, fun facts and over 200 maps. All this seems to resonate with our core demographic—always looking for inspiring trips that are easy on the wallet." LangenscheidtPresident Stuart Dolgins says the company is expanding the light and portable Insight City Guides in the spring after "a home-run launch" of the line last fall. (New titles will cover Barcelona, Prague, Washington, D.C., New York City, Beijing, Venice, St. Petersburg and Tokyo.) "This has been a real eye-opener series that's receiving an even better response than we predicted. The books are very comprehensive, the size is perfect and the value is excellent." Avalon Travel PublishingThis year will see Avalon Travel thoroughly revising the format of its 120-title series of Moon Handbooks, says publisher Bill Newlin. "The major new feature is a color travel-planning section outlining custom itineraries such as surfing in Costa Rica, wine touring in Argentina and so on. Each of the travel chapters now opens with a selection of "must-see" destinations, all individually mapped and cross-referenced. We're also overhauling our Web site [www.moon.com] to feature hyperlinked versions of the travel strategies in the guidebooks. It's the most extensive revision to this series in more than 30 years." Fodor's"We're not ready to go into great detail," says publisher Tim Jarrell, who did note that plans are to build on the success of changes the company started in 2004—a brighter, more contemporary cover design, new trim and better paper. "We are redesigning our flagship series, the Gold Guides, to make them more accessible, easier to use and better integrated with our Web site [www.fodors.com]. Our objective is to give our guides a stronger identity and more consumer appeal. We will also expand our list of See It titles, which are doing extremely well in their first year. " SasquatchPublisher Chad Haight reports that the house has successfully expanded its Best Places guidebooks with the Best Places to Kiss series. "Best Places to Kiss has editions for the Pacific Northwest, Northern California and Southern California, while Best Places guidebooks cover the West Coast from Vancouver to Baja. Continued content innovation and partnerships with the likes of Alaska Airlines have given new breadth and exposure to the Best Places brand." Haight notes the Best Places lines maintain their editorial integrity by accepting no advertising and "taking no free meals." Globe Pequot"Last year," says president and publisher Linda Kennedy, "Globe Pequot began an aggressive branding initiative to publish its U.S. regional travel series under the umbrella name of Insiders' Guide, and in 2005 we will complete this initiative, with 300 guides released under the Insiders' Guide brand. The Insiders' Guide brand is designed as a complement to Globe's existing Falcon Guide regional outdoor brand." The two brands share the same trim size and a familial series look, Kennedy explains, and combined "will offer the broadest selection of U.S regional travel and outdoor titles from one publisher, with over 600 titles in print."—Suzanne Mantell Off the Beaten PathAny number of travel tomes point out tourist attractions, offer directions, recommend lodgings and restaurants, etc. Venture beyond these category staples, however, and you're apt to encounter roads less traveled, as the category's parameters become somewhat blurry. Publishers nowadays are offering an increasing array of titles that meld travel and memoir, travel and history, travel and... whatever. Here are a few such titles that go outside guidebook territory. Title:Carnivorous Nights: On the Trail of theTasmanian Tiger Authors: Margaret Mittelbach and Michael Crewdson Publisher: Villard, Apr. Destination: Three young naturalists' hilarious expedition to the island of Tasmania to find an extraordinary creature most scientists considered extinct. It's Calling You Because: "This is a strange and wonderful hybrid," says editor Judith Sternlight. "You could call it a Bill Bryson—esque travel narrative, but it will also appeal to readers who don't ordinarily read travel memoirs. Serious animal lovers, environmentalists and fans of natural science and history will find this book fascinating." Title:The Clumsiest People in Europe, or, Mrs. Mortimer's Bad-Tempered Guide to the Victorian World Authors: Todd Pruzan and Mrs. Favell Lee Mortimer (deceased) Publisher: Bloomsbury, June Destination: The comically misinformed and startling prejudices of a Victorian eccentric in Europe. It's Calling You Because: "A cranky, opinionated, slightly menacing woman takes it upon herself to write a travel book for children—even though she's only left her hometown twice. What's not to love?" says editorial director Colin Dickerman. "It's an historical curiosity and absolutely, inadvertently, hilarious." Title:The 8:55 to Baghdad: From London to Iraq on the Trail of Agatha Christie and the Orient Express Author: Andrew Eames Publisher: Overlook, May Destination: A modern-day re-creation of Agatha Christie's trip on the Orient Express. It's Calling You Because: Says editor Caroline Trefler, "Eames takes readers on a humorous and compelling journey through Europe and Iraq just before the outbreak of war. It's a unique journey, because he traces Christie's footprints—or train tracks—in a part of the world that inspired many of her novels." Title:America's Battlegrounds: Walk in the Footsteps of America's Bravest Author: Richard Sauers Publisher: Reader's Digest, Apr. Destination: A field guide to more than 40 of our country's most celebrated monuments and battlefields, including the World Trade Center in New York City. It's Calling You Because: "It's a unique blend," says executive editor Dolores York, "of historic highlights, sidebars, maps and detailed tourist information. Visiting these sites is a powerful way to learn about American history and this book was designed to complement the experience." Title:Nature's Strongholds: The World's Great Wildlife Reserves Authors: Laura and William Riley Publisher: Princeton Univ. Press, Feb. Destination: An in-depth look at 600 of the world's most extraordinary animal preserves in such farflung locales as India, New Guinea and Antarctica. It's Calling You Because: "No other guide provides such a range and depth of practical information on preserves from the savannas of Africa to the ice shelves of Antarctica," says executive editor Robert Kirk. "For those who want to see how biodiversity can be experienced firsthand, this is a one-stop reference without parallel." Title:Angry Wind: Through Muslim Black Africa by Truck, Bus, Boat, and Camel Author: Jeffrey Tayler Publisher: Houghton Mifflin, Feb. Destination: A veteran travel writer penetrates one of the most isolated, forbidding regions on Earth—the Sahel. It's Calling You Because: "There isn't a writer alive who's more fearless and more knowledgeable than Jeff Tayler," says editorial director Eamon Dolan. "Few other writers could have survived the trip through Muslim Black Africa, and no other writer could have drawn nearly so much insight from it about the Islamic 'street.' " —Lucinda Dyer Travel Pros See Sea ChangesThe shift from "tourism" toward authentic "travel"—determining not just where people go but how they act and what they see once they get there—has been subtly influencing the travel industry for decades, slowly percolating to the fore. An airline changes its pricing structure, and overnight all hell breaks loose. The following observations about significant recent and developing trends in the travel industry come from experts in the field who are attuned to shifts of every sort. "The biggest sea change is that travel is front-page news," says Peter Greenberg, author of Villard's Travel Detective series and travel editor for NBC's Today Show. "One thing we learned from the tsunami is how powerful travel is to the economy of the world. The first time we realized that was on September 12, 2001. The second time was December 26, 2004." The tsunami may also change how people travel, Greenberg tells PW. "Volunteer vacations are going to be big. They can be life-changing." He adds, "The traveling public is just about everybody, and they want information, not pretty pictures. The brochure mentality is coming to an end, and that's healthy." Keith Bellows, editor-in-chief of National Geographic Traveler, notes that the big travel trend is the importance of narrow, well-defined markets. "As with book publishing, travel used to be a general-interest market. Now it's segmented into niches: adventure, gay, single parent, grandparent—a finer slicing of the pie in terms of what people want." There's a continuing trend, Bellows adds, toward travelers looking for more culturally authentic experiences. "They're tired of going to China and seeing the Gap or KFC. And we are hungrier and hungrier for more exotic places we haven't heard of before. Our parents wanted a weekend in Paris; we want 10 days in Papua New Guinea." According to Town and Country Travel editor-in-chief Melissa Biggs Bradley, people are tired of nesting and are now questing. "The most sophisticated travelers are looking for something that is customized, more personally relevant, more meaningful—museum-led trips to St. Petersburg, hiking to Machu Picchu, walking in Croatia, cooking classes in Tuscany. Through their travels, they are seeking individualization. They want to go out and see and do and taste things that their neighbor has not. They want to continue to grow and expand who they are. An increasing number of people believe that enriching experiences add more value to their lives than amassing luxuries—and that's great news." The big event of the year is Delta Airlines' change in airfare structure, says Christopher Elliott, a contributing editor to US News & World Report. "Delta didn't slash fares. They simplified them. It used to be if you bought a walkup ticket and didn't book for a Saturday stayover, the airlines tagged you as a business flyer and charged you a lot. Delta has now simplified it to five or six buckets, or classes, rather than 16, and they've capped fares at $499 in economy and $599 in first class. The new structure could signal the end of inequality for business travelers, who have been subsidizing leisure travelers ever since deregulation. It really is revolutionary." Faster, more comfortable planes—"long tubes with wings"—are going to change the nature of travel, says Wendy Perrin, consumer news editor of Condé Nast Traveler and author of Wendy Perrin's Secrets Every Smart Traveler Should Know (Fodor's, 1996). "More and more, travelers are going to be choosing their trips by type of aircraft rather than by airline. There's such variety." Perrin also sees the introduction of long-haul flights as a major new development: "The Airbus A340 cuts four hours from the trip between New York and Singapore." Prices for flights across the Atlantic will become more affordable, too. "Aer Lingus," she notes, "just dropped fares significantly, as well as advance-purchase ticket requirements. Other airlines will follow. The low-fare wars are spreading from the U.S. to transcontinental routes." The search for unique experiences drives many people to the far reaches of the globe, says Nancy Novgorod, editor-in-chief of Travel & Leisure, who spent her Christmas vacation at the Explora Resort in Chile's Atacama Desert, hiking, biking and horseback riding. "People are looking for smaller and more personal travel, experiential travel. There is a thirst for testing oneself and experiencing nature and for privacy, a unique experience not shared by huge numbers of people. Outfitter businesses have had a banner year." She adds that CNN has had an influence on where people go—"It has done a lot to promote travel to destinations like Afghanistan that are complicated and fraught. The challenge of visiting these places, their inaccessibility in times of conflict and political unrest, makes them very appealing." TravelWeekly magazine editor-in-chief Arnie Weissmann believes that the slashed prices of the recent past are mostly over. "Bargains and Internet deals are going to be less common, especially for brand names. Prices are higher, inventory is tighter, people need to book further in advance and expect to pay more. Watch out for sticker shock, especially in cruises." A lifestyle trend he notes is intergenerational family vacations, with travel operators facilitating large and diverse groupings. "It's extended families, grandpas and cousins. It's really picked up; it can be traced back to 9/11, when people had a fear of being away from family, then grew to traveling together." And the recent disaster in Southeast Asia is on everyone's mind, he says. "The island of Phuket was a popular Thai resort destination and is ready for business following the tsunami, but it's not getting it. It will be a place people can get good deals and help the economy recover." —Suzanne Mantell