This morning UPS delivered my new LP Sri Lanka guidebook, published January ’15. Then I ran across this thread on another site. It highlights what many of us already know, that even a “new” guide is often, in fact, not new. What I’d neglected to think much about, however, is the fact that even the information so easily updated, the online kind that we tend to think of as up-to-date, may be far from that. It appears from the 2 posts I read that Fodor’s is particularly lax in this regard. I admit, I’m surprised.
I like to travel in developing countries and these are the places that can change dramatically in relatively short periods of time. While some surprises can be pleasant ones, others not so much, like a guest house we counted on to be there, isn’t. Or the train station in Tangier, I just found out, is torn up, so getting to and from there for the next couple of years will be convoluted at best.
I know it takes time to get a book into print, but website owners just, I think, need to care. So what can we do, I wonder, to encourage responsible online content, especially on the major sites we tend to use a lot?
This is problematic, especially when it comes to accommodations and restaurants in my experience, because ownership and management changes and closures are far from rare in the travel industry.
A lot of guide book publishers have on line sites which provides updates to the guidebook. But that takes lots of effort and this is a real downside of printed media — its short half life.
Glad to hear you’re looking at Sri Lanka! It’s a wonderful destination.