Travel Guide Controversy: The Thomas Kohnstamm Affair
Posted by Taylor , Nov, 2008 @ 7:45 pm
In April 2008, Thomas Kohnstamm wrote a controversial book called “Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?”. In this book, he freely admitted that the advice he dished out was less far from professional journalism. This is short excerpt from the New York Times Book Review:
On the take from hotel owners, he received free food, drink, lodging and women in exchange for write-ups in guidebooks.
What’s more, he intimates, many others in his inglorious profession, are just as shiftless. Some, including himself, even wrote about their foreign sojourns from home. A comic rogue who seems to have modeled his life and prose on Hunter S. Thompson’s, Mr. Kohnstamm is a tad smug about being broke and irresponsible. He mourns the days when Lonely Planet told you how to sneak into swimming pools at swank hotels. The serendipity (and casual sex) of travel enthralls him. It’s the sitting down to organize his drunken thoughts he can’t quite master.
The UK Telegraph quotes this section from the book:
“The waitress suggests that I come back after she closes down the restaurant, around midnight,” he writes. “We end up having sex in a chair and then on one of the tables in the back corner.
” That performance earned a guidebook entry describing the restaurant as “a pleasant surprise” where “the table service is friendly”. He also recounts how he shared his apartment with a Brazilian prostitute called Inara. Short of cash, he admitted selling ecstasy to pay his way.
Kohnstamm’s justification? He was not paid enough. Needless to say, Lonely Planet was pissed. Shortly after the book was published, Lonely Planet responded to his claims on their website.
Some people were not so critical. There are some reviewers that appreciated the quality of the book. Others were sympathetic. Travel writer Tim Patterson notes:
Kohnstamm argues that guidebook writers are often poorly paid, inexperienced writers who sometimes engage in unprofessional behavior.
Having just finished a guidebook assignment myself, I can unequivocally state that Kohnstamm is exactly right. The sharp decline in quality across the guidebook industry in the last decade is hardly news.
I recommend reading Tim’s entire article on the subject (click his name). If you don’t want to, this is the basic idea – the quality of travel writing is going down. Writers are not paid enough, and the time lag between writing and publication is too long. Nowadays, people turn to blogs for their information. Not only do blogs provide updated information, but they are usually written by people as qualified as travel writers.
Should I Bother?
Yes. The one good thing about travel guide is that you can bring them around with you wherever you go. If you are in the middle of a Colombian jungle, it might be a tad difficult to find internet access. Guide books are organized, and still have a lot of useful information.
That said, if you are hanging out at an internet cafe, be sure to check some blogs. Oh, and, don’t forget to make friends with the locals – they usually know their city!
Tags: Guide Books, travel, travel advice
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