Travel & Holiday Books

Travel Writingover the past year. It would be interesting to hear
When it comes to travel writing, the literature canwhat readers of this site think - what do you
narrate the writer's experiences that occur duringattribute to this loss in sales of the ubiquitous
those travels, the people the writer meets and theguidebook series? Write in and tell us what you think.
ambience and aesthetic appeals the writer may beOne of my all-time favourites when it comes to
experiencing - these all go into a travelogue. It is fairtravel and holiday writing, is Karl Pilkington. At present
to say that a travelogue tends to be more directlyhe is a little-known author, having only written two
allied with literature about al fresco events thanbooks - both of which you will find amongst our
about proceedings taking place within the boundariestravel and holiday pages, under the section marked
of buildings of one sort or another.'General AAS'. While both his books make excellent
reading, the book I am specifically referring to here is
Would you Put this into the Travel Category?"Happyslapped by a Jellyfish". The title says it all!
As with any other genre, the travel and holidayPilkington describes this book as a travel guide
category does not stand alone, but rubs shouldersalthough, equably it could fit just as easily into the
with essay writing such as a writer's observations onautobiography genre - as well as various other
the peoples of a specific nation. An excellent examplesub-genres as well. The book is humorous and witty -
of this sub-genre would be Kate Fox' "Watching theand I am not going to say any more about it. If you
English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour". It iswant to read it [and you should] you need to pop it
an intensely amusing observation of the detailedinto your basket and head for our checkout. This
behaviour that is inherently English.book is remarkably cheaper here than in many other
Personally, I dislike this particular treatise because Iplaces so, apart from being a good read that will
find it over-generalised with references to the Englishmake you laugh, it is good value as well.
when it might be better to refer to those people asAtlases & Maps
British. Kate Fox focuses on her observances ofSatnav sales may be increasing but, is there a
English behaviour and practices which, admittedly arecorresponding plummet in the sales of atlases and
often totally alien to people from other nationalities:maps? Overall, figures taken from Nielsen BookScan
however, her treatise would have been morereveal that the travel genre overall saw a fall of
balanced had she entitled her book "Watching the8.7% on the total sales from the previous year. The
British: The Hidden Rules of Regional British". Whyyear 2008 saw sales of atlases and maps down by
have I made this comment? If you are Welsh,19.6% in value - a factor that retailers are attributing
Scottish or Irish, you will know exactly what I amto internet route-finders and satellite navigation
talking about.increasing in popularity.
Countries and RegionsTourism & Leisure Studies
Foreigners tend to make this over-generalisation that,One thing you probably wouldn't think of in relation to
if they say 'English' it's a catch-all word covering withtourism and leisure is the impact of politics associated
whole of the British Isles. Truth be told, nothing couldwith leisure pursuits. This is a factor focused on by
be further from the truth: Kate Fox fails to makethe Nijmegen University in The Netherlands, with their
any distinction between the individual identities of theresearch centred on the close proximity between
countries and regions that make up the British Isles -tourism and leisure, geographic perspectives and the
all of which have distinct and regional differentiationsimpacts on these pursuits by social and planning
that have absolutely no reference to the commentsactivities. Their studies centre on the link between
Kate Fox is making in her book. Added to that,man and his environment and between concepts of
lumping English people together when the people ofspace-time together with supply and demand, all of
Cornwall, as a prime example, consider themselveswhich culminates in burgeoning political interest in
completely unique to the rest of England - as do thetourism and leisure as an industry.
people in the North of England - is a vastBasically, in a nutshell, the impact that tourism and the
over-generalisation and could well continue toneed for leisure facilities have on the environment in
perpetuate the myth amongst foreigners thatwhich people live has a direct effect on planning
England constitutes the whole of the United Kingdomissues and the economics of the country involved.
when, in fact, the English are just one nationalityWhile this research was carried out in The
amongst their regional cousins, all of whom areNetherlands, this is true of any country which
governed separately and independently for the mostdepends on tourism as a major source of their
part and whose peoples are totally and completelyeconomy, affecting everything from planning
different to the ideal and popular perception of theregulations to the development of their infrastructure
English.to take into account huge influxes of tourists during
Guidebook Seriesthe strategic months. The principles and practice of
Volume sales of travel and holiday guidebooks intourism and leisure studies form the basis of the
general have seen a slump of 4.8% in 2008 accordingbook "Leisure and Recreation Management" written
to Stanfords, a bookshop in London. Thoseby Dr George Torkildsen who has been instrumental
guidebooks that specialise in advising visitors wherein teaching, management and writing about the leisure
to eat and drink and where to stay has really takenindustry and tourism management generally for the
a knock: this sub-genre has lost 20.9% in sales valuewhole of his career.