Rough Guides

Travel Company

Rough Guides

Company type| Private
Industry| Online Travel Agency
Founded| 1982; 43 years ago (1982)
Founder| Mark Ellingham
Headquarters|

London

United Kingdom

Area served

* United States
* Canada
* UK
* Australia

Products| Tailor-Made Trips, Travel Guidebooks

Number of employees

| 50+
Parent| Apa Digital Group
Website| roughguides.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

[edit]

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

[edit]

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

[edit]

1. ^ Choat, Isabel (28 November 2018). "Rough Guides launches tailormade trips as part of major overhaul". The Guardian.
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".

## External links

[edit]

* Official website
* "Penguin announces outright purchase of Rough Guides". www.pearson.com. Retrieved 3 May 2020.

* v
* t
* e

Tourism

Types|

* Accessible
* Adventure
* Agritourism
* Alternative
* Astrotourism
* Atomic
* Backpacking
* Beachgoing
* Bicycle touring
* Birth
* Business
* Crime
* Culinary
* Enotourism
* Cultural
* Archaeological
* Film
* Literary
* Bookstore
* Tolkien
* Music
* Pop-culture
* Dark
* Disaster
* Holocaust
* War
* Domestic
* Ecotourism
* Shark
* Experiential
* Extreme
* Fashion
* Garden
* Genealogy
* Heritage
* Identity
* Geotourism
* Industrial
* Instagram tourism
* International
* Volunteering
* Jungle
* Justice
* LGBT
* Medical
* MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions)
* Nautical
* Orphanage
* Recreational drug
* Red
* Religious
* Christian
* Halal
* Kosher
* Pilgrimage
* Rural
* Science
* Sensory
* Sleep
* Slum
* Smart
* Space
* Lunar
* Sports
* Sustainable
* Urban
* Virtual
* Visiting friends and relatives
* Wellness
* Wildlife
* Safari
* Scuba
* Yoga

Hospitality industry|

* Bed and breakfast
* Boutique hotel
* Convention center
* Cruise ship
* Destination spa
* Front desk
* Guest house
* Guest ranch
* Heuhotel
* Homestay
* Hospitality management studies
* Hostel
* Hotel
* Manager
* Inn
* Motel
* Pension
* Referral chain
* Resort
* Hotel
* Island
* Seaside
* Ski
* Town
* Restaurant

Terminology|

* College tour
* Convention (meeting)
* Destination marketing organization
* Escorted tour
* Excursion
* Factory tour
* Gift shop
* Grand Tour
* Holiday
* Honeymoon
* Hypermobility
* Journey planner
* Package tour
* Passport
* Perpetual traveler
* Road trip
* Roadside attraction
* Souvenir
* Staycation
* Tour bus service
* Tour guide
* Tour operator
* Tourism geography
* Tourism minister
* Tourism region
* Tourist attraction
* Tourist gateway
* Tourist trap
* Touron
* Transport
* Travel
* Travel agency
* Travel behavior
* Travel document
* Travel insurance
* Travel medicine
* Travel survey
* Travel technology
* Travel visa
* Travel warning
* Vacation
* Visitor center

Travel literature|

* Guide book
* Outdoor literature
* Tourism journals
* Travel magazines
* Wikivoyage

Trade associations|

* American Bus Association
* American Hotel and Lodging Association
* American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute
* BEST Education Network
* Caribbean Tourism Organization
* European Travel Commission
* Historical Archive on Tourism
* Life Beyond Tourism
* Musement
* Pacific Asia Travel Association
* South-East Asian Tourism Organisation
* Tourism Radio
* Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report
* World Federation of Travel Journalists and Writers
* World Tourism Organization
* World Tourism rankings
* World Travel and Tourism Council
* World Travel Monitor

Trade fairs and events|

* Akwaaba African Travel Market
* Arabian Travel Market
* Cruise of the Kings
* Festival del Viaggio
* FITUR
* ITB Berlin
* World Tourism Day

Issues|

* Heritage commodification
* Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism
* Impacts of tourism
* Leakage effect
* Overtourism
* Tourism improvement district
* Tourist tax

Lists|

* Adjectival tourisms
* Attractions
* Bibliography
* Casino hotels
* Casinos
* Cities by international visitors
* Convention and exhibition centers
* Cruise lines
* Hotels
* Largest
* Motels
* Passenger airlines
* UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists
* World Heritage Sites by country

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Webby Awards

Nominee, 1997 award in the category Travel

Awards ceremonies|

* 1997
* 1998
* 1999
* 2000
* 2001
* 2002
* 2003
* 2004
* 2005
* 2006
* 2007
* 2008
* 2009
* 2010
* 2011
* 2012
* 2013
* 2014
* 2015
* 2016
* 2017
* 2018
* 2019
* 2020
* 2021
* 2022
* 2023
* 2024

List of winners

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF

National|

* United States
* Czech Republic
* Spain
* Israel

Other|

* IdRef
* Yale LUX

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template