背景介绍：
随着数字媒体的崛起，纸质旅行指南曾被视为行将消亡的传统媒介。然而，尽管面临智能手机普及和新媒体冲击，这类指南展现出惊人的韧性，销量在英国等地保持稳定甚至回升。尽管新冠疫情重创行业，但市场正逐步复苏。旅行指南通过独特魅力、自我革新及精准定位，如强调真实性、筛选信息及品牌信任，持续吸引读者，证明了其在信息时代的不可替代性。
Why travel
guidebooks are not going anywhere
为什么旅行指南不会走向消亡
Despite predictions that the internet would kill them
尽管有人预言互联网会使其消亡
They declared that it was dead—or, if it wasn’t dead yet, it soon would be. The cause of the malady was viral: first blogs, then influencers on Instagram and TikTok.
尽管预言纷纷，声称纸质旅行指南已步入消亡的倒计时，事实却以其坚韧的生命力反驳了这一论调。从博客的风靡到 Instagram、TikTok 上网红的崛起，每一波新媒体浪潮似乎都预示着传统旅行指南的末日。
Yet, for all journalists’ poor prognoses, the printed travel guide is still in fine fettle. Sales in Britain were mostly flat in 2014-19, a period when smartphones became both ubiquitous and powerful.
但令人惊讶的是，印刷版的旅行指南非但没有消逝，反而在逆境中稳住了阵脚。自2014至2019年间，即便智能手机普及且功能日益强大，英国旅行指南书的销量却奇迹般地保持稳定。
That is not to say there have not been spells of ill health. Frommer’s, the grandfather of American guidebooks, was sold in 2012 for $22m to Google, which reportedly planned to end the series’ print run. (The following year Arthur Frommer, its founder, bought the company back.)
诚然，挑战与困境亦非全然未至。美国旅行指南界的先驱“弗罗默旅行指南”，于2012年以2200万美元的价格易手谷歌，外界一度揣测其印刷版或将终结。（次年，创始人阿瑟·弗罗默巧妙回购，力挽狂澜。）
Lonely Planet, the best-known publisher, has been through several owners at ever-lower valuations. In 2020 the company ended up in the hands of Red Ventures, a publishing house funded by private equity.
另一巨头孤独星球亦在多次转手间估值缩水，最终于2020年落入私募股权支持的 Red Ventures 麾下，命运多舛。
The one virus that did come close to killing guides off was covid-19. Guidebook publishers saw 95-99% of revenues evaporate when lockdowns hit. Yet in both America and Britain, the biggest markets for English-language guides, sales are approaching pre-pandemic levels. Last year Americans bought 5.8m guidebooks and maps—down from 6.9m before the pandemic, but up from 4m in 2020.
尤为值得一提的是，新冠疫情这只突如其来的“黑天鹅”，几乎让旅行指南业陷入绝境，收入骤减95%至99%。但令人欣慰的是，在美国与英国这两大英语旅行指南市场，销量正稳步回升，逼近疫情前水平。去年，美国民众购入了580万册指南与地图，虽略低于疫情前的690万册，却远高于2020年的400万册低谷。
Any obituaries, then, are premature. But why do guidebooks still roll off the presses when all the information you could need is in your pocket?
因此，任何对旅行指南的过早哀悼都显得为时尚早。那么，在智能手机成为信息获取首选工具的今天，为何印刷版旅行指南仍能持续出版并焕发活力？
One answer is that print is a useful medium for information on the go. Books can be scribbled on and dog-eared; they need no charging or internet access. They can be easier to browse than social media, websites or e-books (and attract less attention from pickpockets).
首要原因在于，纸质媒介的独特魅力：它允许读者自由标注、折页，无需电力与网络支持，更便于翻阅，且在旅途中不易成为小偷的目标。
Another is that guidebooks have changed with the times. Rick Steves, the author of America’s bestselling guides to European destinations, published his first guidebook 44 years ago. He still personally researches many of his books, which offer a lot of information in small type.
再者，旅行指南亦在与时俱进，不断自我革新。里克·史蒂夫斯，这位欧洲旅行指南界的常青树，自44年前初涉此道以来，始终亲力亲为，其指南以详尽的小字体著称，信息量丰富。
His publishers, being more business-minded, also produce pocket guides, which take those tips and enliven them with photographs. Double-dipping is one way to boost profits; many other publishers do it.
而他的出版商则更加敏锐，推出袖珍版，融入更多实用小贴士与生动图片，以吸引年轻读者。重复出版与收费策略，亦成为众多出版商提升盈利的妙招。
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. The books relegate restaurant and hotel listings to the margins.
孤独星球的变革尤为引人注目，其旗舰指南最新版仿佛直接将 Instagram 页面搬上了纸面，餐厅与酒店推荐被巧妙置于页边，便于快速查阅。
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.
据孤独星球执行编辑妮提娅·张伯斯透露，此番变革源自深入的市场调研，结果显示读者对食宿信息已相当熟悉，却仍渴望探索更多游玩活动的灵感。
Sales data support Lonely Planet’s claim. 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. Between 2019 and 2023, sales of such guides for domestic destinations were down by 49% and by 20% for overseas ones.
销售数据亦印证了这一趋势。据《The Nielsen Bookscan Travel Publishing Yearbook》作者斯蒂芬·梅斯基塔所言，专注于餐饮住宿的传统旅行指南在英国市场逐渐失宠，2019至2023年间，国内旅行指南销量暴跌49%，海外指南亦下滑20%。
If print books are no longer selling comprehensiveness, then what is it they are selling? One answer is authenticity. “I can’t help people that just want to do what everybody else does,” Mr Steves says. Another is curation. “The more content out there, the better for guide publishers,” says René Frey, who publishes Rough Guides and Insight Guides.
若说信息全面不再是纸质旅行指南的核心竞争力，那么何为新的卖点？真实性与筛选信息的能力成为关键。里克·史蒂夫斯坦言：“对于随波逐流的旅行者，我或许无法提供太多帮助。”而勒内·弗莱，作为《易行指南》与《深度指南》的作者，则强调：“信息爆炸的时代，对旅行指南出版商而言，实为利好。”
Trust—or, rather, brand—is important. 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. That allowed them to stand out and build businesses.
最终，信任与品牌的力量不容忽视。弗罗默、史蒂夫斯及孤独星球的创始人托尼与莫琳·惠勒夫妇，均在数十年前，于出国旅行与自费出版均属奢侈的年代，凭借一己之力开创先河。
Now, thanks to cheap air fares and social media, anyone can opine on eateries on the other side of the world. But wannabe travel writers will find that it is hard to gain traction online.
如今，虽然机票价格亲民，社交媒体让每个人都能成为评论家，但真正想在旅行写作领域脱颖而出，依然难上加难。
重难点词汇：
malady [ˈmælədi] n. 疾病；痼疾
fettle [ˈfɛdl] n. 状态；状况 v. 整理；修整
ubiquitous [juːˈbɪkwɪtəs] adj. 无所不在的；普遍存在的
evaporate [ɪˈvæpəreɪt] v. 蒸发；挥发；消散
pickpocket [ˈpɪkˌpɑkət] n. 扒手；小偷
relegate [ˈrelɪɡeɪt] v. 降级；贬职；放逐
curation [ˌkjuːˈreɪʃən] n. 治疗；策展
opine [oʊˈpaɪn] v. 认为；表达
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