Lonely Planet continues to deepen its traditional blue-spine roster of comprehensive guides, including the release, in October, of the first update to its Western Balkans book since 2009. At that time, tourism to Croatia was on the rise, and the publisher thought the rest of the region was similarly poised to take off. It didn’t.

Now, as some stretches of the Croatian coast are so oversubscribed that local officials are setting visitor limits in an effort to fight overcrowding, travelers are seeking quieter shores and venturing further inland. The updated guide covers all the countries that once comprised the former Yugoslavia, as well as Albania, whose unspoiled coast beckons those steering clear of the cruise ports of call in Croatia and Montenegro.

Lonely Planet is also expanding its U.S. coverage with Maine & Acadia National Park (Dec.), a traditional, comprehensive guide, and the more concise Pocket Portland & the Willamette Valley (Feb. 2020). “We recognized that we had gaps in our list in how we’d been covering the U.S.,” says Darren O’Connell, product director at Lonely Planet. “We’re now trying to ramp that up.

Rough Guides, too, is ramping up, adding Game Parks of South Africa (2020) to its sub-Saharan Africa line and pursuing new digital promotions. The publisher now includes an e-book edition with every travel guide purchased, following the popularity of the same venture begun by sister imprint Insight Guides in 2016. Some 100,000 people have downloaded free Insight Guides, according to the company.

At Fodor’s, February will bring the new Essential Iceland as well as a revamped Essential Norway, the first update since its 2009 publication. “Iceland is extraordinarily accessible,” says Rachael Roth, editor and content manager at Fodor’s, with direct flights to Reykjavik available from various cities across the United States. Essential Scandinavia, which hasn’t been updated since it was first published in 2009, also covered Iceland and Norway, but as more visitors flock to Iceland’s natural wonders and Norway’s burgeoning foodie scene, Roth says, current, standalone guides were seen as valuable components of the publisher’s European coverage. Essential Scandinavia will receive its update in April 2020.

Return to the main feature.