Follow the guide, or not: are guidebooks still popular?

Follow the guide! Or not. When it comes to tourism and travel planning, the "paperless" option is gaining ground.

This is, in any case, what the GFK Institute for Marketing Research and Auditing claims. Earlier this year, it revealed a decline in the French market for printed tourist guides. With five million copies still to be sold in 2024, the decline is around 6.3% compared to 2023. It's 3% if we consider the sector's turnover, which stood at €95 million last year.

According to GFK, the decline is particularly noticeable in the top tourist destination for the French: France and its regions. The decline is 13.1% in the number of copies sold. The "Europe" guides are holding up a little better, but not as much as the "World" guides, which are down only 2%, again in volume.

Paradox, AI and _CO2

A paradox when you consider that tourism has been steadily increasing since the Covid crisis. Despite calls to fly less in order to limit greenhouse gas emissions and thus global warming, air traffic is still increasing.

In fact, from international guides to regional guides, everyone is facing competition from new digital-oriented uses: specialized websites, social media influencers, and even artificial intelligence assistance. The testimonials from our readers who responded to our consultation on our websites attest to this: uses are evolving.

Hélène, a 45-year-old from Toulon, is an avid traveler, having traveled around the world twice. Her method for organizing her latest trip last year with her children? "I consult specialized sites like "Tourdumondiste" or "À contresens" to determine my next destination, I prepare the trip using paper guides, then I place my landmarks on Google Maps so I don't have to carry them with me on every trip."

"In 2007, it was 100% paper"

Fifteen years earlier, the same Hélène had set off solo, but accompanied by a bunch of guidebooks. "In 2007, it was 100% paper!" She explains: "There wasn't much travel information on the internet, so I set off with all my guidebooks to make sure I had them in French, and I abandoned them in hostel libraries as I no longer needed them."

In 2025, the use of digital tools will go even further. Yanis, 24, a resident of Roquebrune-sur-Argens and a true product of Generation Z, explains: "I do most of it with ChatGPT. For example, recently, I told him I had ten days to explore a part of Italy and he suggested some regions. I chose Calabria because he told me it was cheaper! Then, I asked him to create an itinerary for me in three or four stages."

But because he didn't want to feel like AI had decided everything for him, the young man bought a guidebook. "I was able to get a global view and find places or ideas for visits that I would have missed if I had just relied on ChatGPT. And I had a great vacation!"

The pleasure of preparing your trip

Pascale, a 56-year-old from Hyères, has simply given up on traditional guides. She finds them "heavy, cumbersome and not always up to date" . However, she hasn't finished with paper: "I create my own book, with only the information I need and not an entire country!" This practice, inseparable from her three or four annual trips, is clearly part of her pleasure: "I'm already traveling!"

It is this same pleasure that convinces Aurélie, a 34-year-old from Nice, to continue using guides, even if it means supplementing the information she finds there with data that is abundant on the web: "When I buy it, it's already the start of the holidays!" she enthuses. And then, adds Aurore, a 41-year-old resident of La Garde, "nothing can replace the charm of a paper guide: being able to flick through it, add notes, turn the pages as you discover things... and finally keep it as a souvenir of your trip." In bookstores, strategies to keep the shelves busy

"Before," admits Mathieu, a Seynois who travels twice a year, "I used to take two or three guides for the same destination. Now, I only take one and supplement it with the internet." As he puts a book on Puglia in Italy back in the tourism section of the Charlemagne bookstore in Toulon, he insists he still remains faithful to paper. "Especially for places to visit, not for addresses."

"The Internet is used for finding restaurants and accommodations, while the paper guide is more useful for cultural and heritage sites," confirms Géraldine Point. Working alongside the department manager at Charlemagne, in her absence, she provides figures that are consistent with those of the GFK Institute.

Focus on niches

A drop of 5.2% by 2024, according to the French Booksellers' Union, more marked in the "France" guides than in the "foreign" guides, which are slightly on the rise.

However, she emphasizes that "the tourist guide section remains balanced and well-attended, thanks to a significant editorial offering." This is evidenced by the hundreds of copies on as many destinations that fill the shelves. Not just classic guides: "More and more publishers are offering niche guides, with a twist."

Géraldine Point points out the Eat guides, published by Hachette and focused on food, or the "devour like a novel" guides from L'Arbre qui marche, particularly highlighted to attract customers.

"We're counting on well-stocked shelves to increase the number of products and meet all demands, while directing readers to the type of guides that correspond to the type of trip they want to take." This is a strategy to encourage the consumption of guides in the face of new holiday planning practices.

Proximity focus

Faced with the – slight – decline in interest in printed tourist guides and to continue selling them, Raphaël Riva, owner of Carré des mots, has opted for another method, more suited to the scale of his business: favoring local products. As soon as you enter this Toulon bookstore, a shelf offers books on the Var, the Côte d'Azur, Provence, as well as destinations accessible by boat from Toulon, such as Corsica, Sardinia, and the Balearic Islands.

A strategy that pays off and "meets a demand," assures the bookseller, now established on the rue d'Alger, a particularly popular tourist spot. "Some are only here for a day before taking the boat and take the opportunity to buy a guide." Thus, he notes a clear increase in these sales in July and August. "I have few international guides, however," admits Raphaël Riva, " but it is of course possible to order some!"

In any case, he too is convinced that the end of tourist guides is still far from over: "People still like paper. Buying a guide is the start of traveling!" The founder of the Guide du Routard is confident about the future

Founder of Le Routard 52 years ago, if there's anyone who has a vision for the evolution of the tourist guide market, it's him: Philippe Gloaguen. And it's safe to say he's not worried one bit.

"GFK's figures, I don't know where they come from, but we're much more positive!" While he admits a drop "of around 2 to 4%" , this is nothing, he says, compared to that suffered during the Covid crisis. "There, we were on an 85% drop!"

Tripadvisor's memory

Philippe Gloaguen is aware that he's taking an extreme example here. So he returns to a phenomenon closer to what tour guides are experiencing today, particularly with artificial intelligence. "When Tripadvisor arrived in 2000 or 2002, there was a slight shift," he recalls. "Something around 2 or 3%, like what we're seeing today." But the craze, he assures us, didn't last: "Very quickly, people realized a flaw: these are just other people's opinions, sometimes the professionals themselves." In other words, not always reliable.

The specialist thus points out the main quality of tourist guides: "They are produced by journalists who are not paid to highlight one place or another." Philippe Gloaguen asserts the authors' sincerity. "We may not agree with them, but in any case, they haven't cheated. On the internet, you can't be sure of that." Not even with artificial intelligence, which feeds on what it finds on the web. And therefore, on potentially biased opinions.

However, Philippe Gloaguen "does not consider the internet as an enemy, but rather as a complement." Moreover, he insists, Le Routard launched its website in 1996 and records between four and five million unique visitors every month. "This compensates for the decline in print."

More than two million loyal readers

Today, Le Routard has 160 guides, including 35 for France. According to figures from the GFK Institute, these are undoubtedly the ones suffering the most. For a fairly simple reason, Philippe Gloaguen points out: "The further you go, the more guides you buy: it's reassuring to be sure you don't miss anything and also because all the information is gathered there, which means you don't have to look it up on the Internet. For nearby destinations, however..."

International guides, on the other hand, suffer mainly from geopolitical situations: certain destinations disappear as countries go through crises. "Fifteen years ago, we had 180 guides," laments the founder of Routard , who has not lost his optimism. "In any case, I am confident for the future thanks to our 2.2 million loyal readers."

But, he admits, "if Le Routard were to start today, we wouldn't be able to find our customer base." A word of advice to those who are trying their luck!