Road less traveled

The travel guidebook behemoth Lonely Planet is openinga Beijing office and publishing three new guidebooks inChinese.自存倉 The publisher's co-founder tells Mu Qian whyhe finds China an exciting travel destination.Tony Wheeler, co-founder of the world's largest travel guidebook publisher Lonely Planet, found his book on China often misleading when he traveled in the country in 2006."Every time my China book said from this town to the next town would take five hours, it actually took two hours, and if the book said it would take seven hours, it took three hours," he says."I think probably more than any other country on earth, China has changed so much in the period that we have been doing our guidebooks."Wheeler has returned to China several times since his first trip in the 1980s. This time, he's in China for the opening of the Lonely Planet's Beijing office and the release of three guidebooks in Chinese: Yunnan, Nepal and Thailand's Islands and Beaches.Working with its Chinese partner, Sinomaps Press, Lonely Planet plans to publish 26 titles in Chinese in 2013 and more than 200 titles in the coming years.In 1972, Tony and his wife Maureen Wheeler set off on an overland trip through Europe and Asia, and eventually arrived in Australia. The trip resulted in the first Lonely Planet guidebook Across Asia on the Cheap.Lonely Planet has gone on to become the world's most successful travel publisher, printing more than 100 million books of some 500 different titles in nine languages.Wheeler sold his company a few years ago to have more time for traveling and charitable projects, but he's still actively involved with Lonely Planet."Lonely Planet is like my child. Your children may leave home, but you always worry about them," he says."You always hope they do the right thing, and you are proud of them when they do things well. I'm still proud of Lonely Planet."Wheeler — who has traveled 155 countries and regions — believes China is one of the most interesting destinations."China is a country that stretches so far, and there's so much difference between one part and another," he says."The other thing I would say is the change. If you are traveling through China, look at things and ask how these were 10 or 20 years ago and how it will be in 10 or 20 years' time. Thinking about that is very exciting."That makes China a very important destination for guidebook publishers, he explains."China is a destination that you have to g迷你倉新蒲崗 into at depth, and to try to understand the culture and history," he says."So for a guidebook publisher, it is a very challenging destination, and the challenges are always what make it so interesting."Like many of its guidebooks, Lonely Planet's Chinese-language editions about Chinese destinations, such as Yunnan province, are written by local authors.The first Lonely Planet guides in Chinese were published in 2006, when China's travel industry began to develop.According to the UN World Tourism Organization, there was a 42 percent year-on-year increase in spending by Chinese travelers in 2011, the latest year when data is available.China is now the third largest source of travel spending globally. Chinese travelers took 83.2 million international trips in 2012, growing at an explosive 18.4 percent over the previous year. While travel to Hong Kong and Macao still tops the most visited destinations list, regional Asian destinations like South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam also dominate the top 20. The US, Italy and France also figure in the list. Other destinations, such as Iran, Sri Lanka and South America, are also attracting increasing interest."When we started Lonely Planet 40 years ago, there were no visitors to China at all, and no Chinese went out to the outside world," Wheeler says."Now this one huge country has opened up to the whole world and has also gone out to the whole world."Technology has changed travel greatly in recent decades, but Wheeler believes there's still much to discover in the world."I think if people want adventure they will always find adventure," he says."Every year I go somewhere that I feel it's quite adventurous getting there. And when I get there, someone has gotten there in a more adventurous way."Three years ago, a Lonely Planet bicycle team spent four months riding through Africa from Cairo to Cape Town. Wheeler did two weeks in Tanzania and Malawi, while Chinese traveler Jin Xin rode the part of Central Africa."When we first started doing Lonely Planet books, I was much younger and had much less money. And, therefore, the books were aimed very much at young people with very little money," Wheeler says."I still think traveling is very important for young people. They can learn so much when they travel."Contact the writer at muqian@chinadaily.com.cn.I think if people want adventure, they will always find adventure." Tony Wheelerco-founder of Lonely Planet迷你倉出租