They are the gurus of globetrotting, the men who built publishing empires from their adventures and wrote guidebooks encouraging millions to venture further afield. Now the founders of the Rough Guides and Lonely Planet books, troubled that they have helped spread a casual attitude towards air travel that could trigger devastating climate change, are uniting to urge tourists to fly less.
Mark Ellingham, the founder of Rough Guides, and Tony Wheeler, who created Lonely Planet after taking the hippie trail across Asia, want fellow travelers to "fly less and stay longer" and donate money to carbon-offsetting schemes.
From next month, warnings will appear in all new editions of their guides about flying's impact on global warming, along with alternatives to reaching certain places.
But the founders of the UK's two largest travel publishers are refusing to give up flying and admit they are not paragons of environmental virtue.
Asked if he felt guilty about the hundreds of flights he has undertaken, Wheeler -- visiting London on a business trip from Australia -- said: "Absolutely. I'm the worst example of it. I'm not going to stop but every time I jump on a plane I think, `oh no, I'm doing it again.'"
Lonely Planet began when Wheeler and his wife traveled from London to Australia in the 1970s, cobbling together a guide on their way. Six million copies of more than 600 different Lonely Planet guidebooks are sold each year, inspiring backpackers and middle-class tourists to take long-haul flights to exotic destinations.
Both men have also pledged to donate money to the charity Climate Care to offset the carbon emissions of their 650 staff who fly around the world every year compiling and updating their travel books. In Rough Guides, the warnings will come under the "getting there" sections of all new editions and will emphasize alternative forms of travel.
The men accept it is less easy to take an alternative route to Peru, but advise travelers to spend more time in one place.
Ellingham, who produced the first Rough Guide with student friends in 1982 after traveling round Greece, recognized their advice could look hypocritical.
"Like so much in life, it's a contradiction but we are uniquely well-placed to address travelers," he said. "We've got a responsibility to make people aware of the information about climate change so people have a less casual attitude towards flying. We want to show that two companies who are direct rivals feel this is an issue important enough to coordinate and cooperate on."
Both men said they do not mind if their advice discourages people and hits sales of their books.
"I'd rather customers bought one book today than no books at all tomorrow," Wheeler said. "If we do real damage to our planet, we're not going to be able to travel anywhere. We want our kids to be able to travel as well."
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
‘DISCRIMINATION’: The US Office of Personnel Management ordered that public DEI-focused Web pages be taken down, while training and contracts were canceled US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday moved to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off. The moves follow an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs. Trump has called the programs “discrimination” and called to restore “merit-based” hiring. The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by former US president Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients. It is using one of the
RSS