Travel and Social Media
The Lonely Planet Story

About Lonely Planet.

Founders
Tony & Maureen
• Tony and Maureen meet in London
and travel overland through Asia.
• Published first book in 1973 –
Across Asia on the Cheap
• The Wheeler’s built their company
on the commitment to provide
travellers with the most useful and
relevant travel information in a
convenient format.

35 years later
93 million guidebooks sold
500 titles
Translated across 8 languages
6m unique visitors per month
6 foreign language websites
10+ television series screening in
over 150 countries

2009 & beyond
In October 2007, BBC
Worldwide acquired a 75% stake
in Lonely Planet.
Lonely Planet aims to significantly
increase its reach and recognise
its mission in delivering content
across different platforms relevant
to today’s travellers.

Our brand.

Our Characteristics
Unique
Unexpected and sometimes brave or surprising.
Inspiring
Sense of place and experience, creates a curiosity,
visualising the dream.
Irreverent/Spirited
Quirky or unexpected interpretation, cheeky
or humorous angle, loads of personality.
Opinionated
Show it like it is, sometimes challenging.
Respectful
An awareness and sensitivity to cultures,
people and the environment.
Authoritative
Knowledgable, not staged, real.

Demographics.

Source: Comscore
Source: Comscore
Source: Omniture

Our Audience
Education Household Income USA/USD
Highly educated - with over 70% with a degree of professional qualification
(Source: Forrester Research 2008 and Lonely Planet Travellers Pulse 2008)
Well Travelled
60% of LP.com users have been to more than 10 countries
(Source: Lonely Planet Travellers Pulse 2008)
Technically Savvy
- 95% of LonelyPlanet.com visitors use the website everyday
- lonelyplanet.com visitors are more likely to create and publish content
- 22% more likely to interact with social networking sites
(Source: Forrester Research 2008)
Household Income UK
£53.4K which is substantially above average internet user (£45,866)
(Source: Forrester Research 2008) Source: Comscore

The History of Travel Social Communities
1300 1850 1955 1970 1990 2000
Post The Hippie
The Grand TV Technology
WWII Trail/
Tour/ Society/ Community/
Religious Exposure/ Lonely
TripAdvisor
Expeditions Baedekers Frommers Planet Rick Steves
Hoof and Foot
Ships & Trains
Jet Travel Enviro
Concern

Lonely Planet - travel social
networking for over 35 years…

San Francisco
Chronicle

“The bombs in
Mombasa and
Time Bali threaten
the best
12/10/02 example of
global
community.”

Work done for BBCW by the Henley Centre has identified 8 global trends

Consumer Trends Most Applicable to the Travel Segment
Stop-Go Lives: People are taking shorter breaks more often, in the US 7%
more workers took partial weeks off in 2006 than 2005
Experiential Society: People have less time and are seeking value and
experiences out of the ordinary.
Community Connections: An April 2007 Nielsen study found User
Generated Content was the most trusted form of advertising, with 78% of
consumers said they trust recommendations from other consumers

The Travel Cycle: What Travelers Use
•Podcasts
•Podcasts and Videos •Television
•Thorn Tree •Newsletters
•Groups •AV
•Rate and Review •Travel Feature Stories
•Talk to Us
•Maps
•Mobile Devices •Thorntree
•Guidebooks •Worldguide
•Phrasebooks •Maps
•Blogs •Trip Planner
•Pick & Mix
•Guidebooks
•Hotels & Hostels
•Shop (print & digital)
•Traveler Services

Today’s Social Communities
• Creators (Authors): Publish own blog, publish own web pages, upload
music/audio you created, write articles or stories and post them
• Critics (Back of the Book/Talk 2 Us): Post ratings/review of product or
services, comment on someone else’s blog, contribute to online forums
• Collectors (Bluelist): Use RSS fields, vote for web sites, add tags
• Joiners (Thorntree): Maintain profile on social networking site, visit
social networking sites
• Spectators (YouTube; LPTV): Read blogs, listen to podcasts, watch
videos, read online forums, read customer ratings
• Inactives (non-travelers/passport initiatives): None of the above
Source:Yahoo/Forrester/Compete, Inc. Workshop

Today’s Competitive Landscape
Travel content
and
Sites I use to share travel commerce
stories and recommendations sites are lower
ranked and
and connect with other are losing
travelers (community) WAYN rank, but
Boots n All communities
Travelpod are gaining
Trip Up
Socialight*
*
Wikitravel Hostel World
Virtual Tourist
Yelp**
Flickr
TripAdvisor
Real Travel Lonely Planet
Trip Connect
Yahoo Travel
Borders STA
Fodors Kayak Sites I use to
Gridskipper
Sites I Travelocity* browse, book and
use to * buy travel or related
Roughguide
access Wikipedia NY Times products online
DK
Travel (commerce)
travel Frommers
information Guardian Travel Expedia
and/or review World66
opinions of others
(content) Ranked Ranked Ranked
<100 100-4000 >4000
Alexa global average ranking, Nov 07: The rank of a site is the geometric mean of the
number of Alexa toolbar users who visit that site and the number of pages on the site viewed
by those users.
* Ranking is for whole domain, not just travel

Little overlap between content and social networking sites
Content sites currently provide: Community sites currently provide:
• Guidebook content • User generated travel content only
• Articles and information on travel (WAYN, BootsnAll, Yelp), in which some
destinations (Guardian Travel) destinations are weak on content
• Ability to customize travel guides (DK • Ability to share photos, videos and
Encounter) stories with fellow travelers
• User generated content through blogs • Facebook’s applications are generally
Existing content sites provide limited socialcontent free
(Frommers), podcasts and review and or community tools, while social
networkingguidebook form provide differentiated, quality, reliable content, but this is
rate, or in players don’t (Wikitravel)
• Limited community opportunities
already beginning to change
Key players are expanding their offerings . .
Trip Advisor has user generated content, social networking
functionality, as well as links to quality content providers for
guidebook information. Travelpod and Facebook.
Hostelworld upgraded their site to provide additional community
functionality

Strategic Options
The Decision Framework
• Short term savings
Do Nothing:
• Large opportunity cost (entry into new markets)
“Wait and See” • Delay will mean a loss of competitive advantage
• Approach is to self funding through business
partners
Measured approach • Small incremental spending
“Engage with market” • Seizes opportunity to edge ahead of competitors
• Provides option to accelerate when basics are in
place, or reduce spending if revenue is not realized
• Investment in Fundamentals
Heavy commitment • May require acquisition to ramp up
“Grow the market” • Requires larger scale investment to win a
position

Where Did We Come From?
11 years of Thorn Tree

11 years of Thorn Tree
Split into categories, which cover destination-specific and specialist-
interest branches with over 100,000 active threads.
Deep and rich travel
Q&A
Travelers can form strong bonds on the road that become life-long friendships. In a
similar way, the Thorn Tree has brought together travelers both on and off the road
from around the globe. It’s this unique blend of community, which mixes hard travel
Can I get my visa
information with more informal discussion, that has seen the Thorn Tree become one
upon arrival to
of the most popular and authoritative travel forums on theEthiopia? Or do I need
web.
The Tree is split into categories which cover destination-specific it in specialist-
to get and advance?
interest branches with over 100,000 active threads.
Do I need malaria
medication for my trip
to Vietnam?
Cycling in Cuba next 2
weeks, anyone else
there?

Where Did We Come From?
Talk2Us Feedback Center
A dedicated
Travelers can 5
team of form strong bondsbrought road that travelers life-long and off the road
on the become friendships. In a
similar way, the Thorn Tree has together both on
people, who
from around the globe. It’s this unique blend of community, which mixes hard travel
information with more informal discussion, that has seen the Thorn Tree become one
spend their
of the most popular and authoritative travel forums on the web.
time reading,
The Tree is split into categories which cover destination-specific and specialist-
processing and
interest branches with over 100,000 active threads.
replying to
traveler
feedback

Feedback: A virtuous circle
New
Guidebook
Published

Feedback: A virtuous circle
New
Travellers
Guidebook
Feedback
Published

Feedback: A virtuous circle
New
Travellers
Guidebook
Feedback
Published
Talk2Us
Process
& Reply

Feedback: A virtuous circle
New
Travellers
Guidebook
Feedback
Published
Talk2Us
Process
& Reply
Editors
Brief for
New Edition

Feedback: A virtuous circle
New
Travellers
Guidebook
Feedback
Published
Authors
Talk2Us
Research
Process
Add &
& Reply
Correct
Editors
Brief for
New Edition

Feedback Results
In 2007
• 13,500 travelers sent in feedback
• Their emails turned into 30,000+ useful
items of information New Travellers
Guidebook Feedback
Published
Authors
Talk2Us
Research
Process
Add &
& Reply
Correct
Editors
Brief for
New Edition

Lonely Planet,
a part of social online communities…

Lonely Planet Channel on YouTube
• Launched on April 10, 2008
• Features a selection of the
best travel videos from Lonely
Planet’s own online video-
sharing website,
LonelyPlanet.tv and exclusive
content such as previews and
behind-the-scenes footage from
upcoming Lonely Planet
Television shows
•Current subscribers: 1,754
•Current channel Views: 22,557
www.youtube.com/lonelyplanet
•Some LP videos have had
500,000+ views

Lonely Planet group on Facebook
• 5,000 members
• A space where users can
engage with LP, connect
with friends they’ve met
while travelling and to
share travel stories
• Lonely Planet is also
working on a variety of
wireless applications for
Facebook users to add on
their profiles

Lonely Planet photo groups on Flickr
• 35,000 + images
•4,100 + members in
Lonely Planet Photo
Challenge group
•2,800+ members in
photo book group
• These groups are
designed to provide an
avenue for travelers to
showcase their
snapshots from their
journeys

Where We are Going Online?
Lonely Planet.com
VISION
To inspire and enable
travelers
to connect
with the world and each
other . . . every day
CHARACTERISTICS
• The whole travel cycle on • Big, profitable, diverse
multiple platforms revenue streams
• For LP travelers – curious, self- • A rich-media storytelling
selecting, self-packaging explorers experience
• Topical, accurate, trusted, relevant, and • Interacting “where you like it”
we have a distinct Lonely Planet voice
• Self-organized with the travel community • Beautiful DNA, and employee/
at the center stakeholder pride
• Localization of products for key territories • Global production company

Inspiring and enabling
travellers to connect with the world
and each other
TV
….every day
Magazine
Digital
Digital
Wireless
I‘m back Wireless
I dream
Travel Print
Print Life
I‘m there Cycle
Digital
Wireless I plan
I buy
Digital Wireless
& book
Digital
Whilst maintaining leadership in travel publishing, Lonely Planet will further build out its
multiple media offering to increase its frequency of engagement and connect with its
consumers ‘everyday’.

More content
From our guidebooks, repurposed From our authors By aggregating the best From like minded
for online on the road content from the web travellers
Richer experience
And more tools to discover, create & share

The result is a powerful ‘triple play’ not available anywhere else.
People will come to the site for:
• the single largest source of authored travel content on the web
• combined with the insight of the Lonely Planet traveller
• and the best of the web.
They will return to get up-to-date information, follow travellers
through group and community tools, and to take content and share it.

Where are we going?
Mobile Media
Global connectivity trends are important
• Increasing uptake of broadband internet in Asian markets
• Interactive TV is growing rapidly, the online market grew 179% in
the 12 months to June 2007 with 8 million users of IPTV services
worldwide
• The market for mobile internet services remains largely untapped,
according to the Yankee Group which claim that operators and
service providers could be raking in as much as $66bn per year,
instead of the $9.5bn they are taking at present
• The number of mobile navigation device (GPS) units shipped
reached 7.4 million worldwide in the second quarter of 2007, an
increase of 116% over the same quarter last year

Where are we going?
Mobile Actions
• Licensing our content to location based service
platforms
• Providing a compelling Mobile site
– Driving traffic to the M-site through operator deals,
owned sites and affiliates
– Selling advertising, offering sponsorship opportunities
and driving transactions to partners
• Selling downloadable applications and video
through retail channels

The Lonely Planet Mobile Solution

In conclusion
1/ New technologies are going faster: Web
2.0, Evolution and opportunities in e-
tourism
2/ How do you use social media to reach
people?
3/ The future of e-tourism