article - lonely planet in chinese


Lonely Planet finds Chinese travel mate

Annabelle McDonald

MATP

366 words

11 January 2006

The Australian

1 - All-round Country

3

English

Copyright 2006 News Ltd. All Rights Reserved

 

AUSTRALIAN travel company Lonely Planet has signed a lucrative deal to publish guidebooks in Chinese.

 

The company, started by two backpackers in 1973, has teamed up with Chinese publishing house SDX to release Chinese-language versions of its guidebooks.

 

The deal is expected to generate huge sales as the number of Chinese planning to travel abroad continues to soar in line with the booming economy.

 

In 2002, 16.6million Chinese people travelled abroad, an increase of 36.8per cent over the previous year.

 

By 2020, 100million Chinese will travel overseas, representing an annual growth rate of about 12 per cent -- three times the annual world average for tourism growth -- the World Tourism Organisation says.

 

This would make China the world's fourth-largest source market for outbound travellers.

 

The Lonely Planet deal, announced in Beijing this week, will see guidebooks released in book stores throughout China from June this year.

 

Launch titles will include guidebooks to key outbound destinations such as Australia, Germany, Britain and the US.

 

Ad man John Singleton, who is a 30per cent stakeholder in Lonely Planet, described the private company as the "best known Australian brand in the world".

 

He said the move into the Chinese market would generate revenue not only for the company, but also for Australian tourism.

 

"The biggest driver of tourism in Australia from the US is the Lonely Planet. Obviously (the move to China) is going to be big, but I don't know how big yet," Mr Singleton said last night.

 

He said the company would look to expand into the Indian and Indonesian markets.

 

SDX president Zhang Weimin said he expected travel to become "an indispensable activity for Chinese people".

 

"More and more people are travelling and looking to understand and connect with the world," he said.

 

"Lonely Planet enables travellers to connect with local people as well as other travellers and in this way helps create a global travel community. I believe the time is right for Chinese travellers to have access to this type of information as they begin to seek out a more genuine travel experience."