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Rough Guides

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Rough Guides
Company typePrivate

IndustryOnline Travel Agency 

Founded1982; 43 years ago (1982)

FounderMark Ellingham

Headquarters
London

,
United Kingdom

Area served


ProductsTailor-Made Trips, Travel Guidebooks

Number of employees
50+

ParentApa Digital Group

Websiteroughguides.com


Rough Guides is a travel company that offers tailor-made trips planned and arranged by local travel experts based in destinations around the world. Originally established as a guidebook publisher in 1982, Rough Guides expanded into customized travel services in 2018.[1]

History

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The first Rough Guide was The Rough Guide to Greece.[2]

In 1995, when Rough Guides were selling around a million books a year, Mark Ellingham entered into a pioneering agreement with HotWired Ventures, the digital offshoot of Wired Ventures, the then-publisher of WIRED magazine. The deal offered free online access to the full text of The Rough Guide to the USA via the World Beat section of HotWired. Ellingham stated at the time that publishing the guides online would facilitate easier updates. "If you could send me an e-mail from Senegal saying this hotel's closed down, I would just key it in," he told the San Francisco Chronicle. "The online book would take on a life of its own".[3]

In May 2007, Mark Ellingham said he had grave concerns about the growth of air travel because of its growing contribution to climate change. He launched an awareness campaign with Tony Wheeler (Lonely Planet founder), and Rough Guides began including a "health warning" in each of its travel guides, urging readers to "Fly less, stay longer".[4] In November 2007, after celebrating "25 Rough Years" with a series of celebratory books, Ellingham left Rough Guides to set up a new imprint, GreenProfile, at Profile Books.[5]

Personalised trips

[edit]

In November 2018, Rough Guides launched a personalised trip service.[6]

Awards

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From 2017 to 2020 Rough Guides ran an award-winning podcast, The Rough Guide to Everywhere.[7] Started by Greg Dickinson, the podcast explored topical travel issues, and showcased interviews with travel personalities. In 2019, series 4 of The Rough Guide to Everywhere (hosted by former senior editor Aimee White) was awarded Bronze in the Best Branded Podcast category at The British Podcast Awards.[8]

References

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  1. ^ https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2018/nov/28/rough-guides-launches-tailormade-travel-trips-bespoke-holiday-service
  2. ^ "About us Rough Guides". Roughguides.com. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  3. ^ Quinn, Michelle (13 October 1995). "Travel Guides Hit the Net / HotWired, British Publisher jump On World Wide Web". SF Gate. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
  4. ^ "Eco-Holidays: Fly Less, Stay Longer". The Independent. London. 24 September 2006. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012.
  5. ^ "Ellingham quits Rough Guide". The Bookseller. 1 October 2007. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  6. ^ Choat, Isabel (28 November 2018). "Rough Guides launches tailormade trips as part of major overhaul". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  7. ^ Verdier, Hannah (9 February 2017). "The Rough Guide to Everywhere – a new podcast for extreme travel tales". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  8. ^ "Winners 2020 - British Podcast Awards".
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