Best Travel Guide Publisher
Time Out Travel Guides
Tell me about Time Out travel guides …
"Honest, authoritative, encyclopedic, incisive - these are definitely the best, most comprehensive city guides in print today." That's how the Independent described Time Out's series of 52 City Guides to destinations around the world, which sell hundreds of thousands of copies each year.
Tell me more about Time Out travel guides ...
The guides are written by authors who live in the cities concerned. As well as information on sights, attractions, restaurants, shops and bars, they have a particular emphasis on culture and entertainment, and often include in-depth features. For example, the Barcelona guidebook has an extensive profile of Gaudi, while the Beijing book has a chapter on the 2008 Olympics and an overview of the city's history.
Time Out also publishes magazine-style guides, which contain features on anything from young Ghanaian football players to Cyprus's most beautiful villages, as well as tourist information. These are aimed at younger travellers who are visiting a destination for the first time and have limited time to plan their break. The Shortlist Guides are annually updated, pocket-sized guides aimed at travellers taking a short break, with an events calendar, a list of top picks and itineraries for days out.
The company also publishes a series of guides to London, including London For Children and Country Walks Near London, food and drink guides to London, New York, Dubai and Paris, and other titles such as 1,000 Things For Kids To Do In The Holidays and Great Train Journeys Of The World.
Who are Time Out?
Time Out's best known publication is the weekly listings magazine of the same name, which now has 60 editions worldwide. The magazines contain information about films, theatre shows, gigs, literary, artistic and fashion events, eating out and nights out, as well as news articles.
The London magazine was set up in 1968 by Tony Elliott, then still a student at Keele University, with £70 an aunt gave him on his 21st birthday. The single A5 fold-out, which Elliott designed on his mother's kitchen table, cost a shilling. Time Out was originally designed to be an alternative magazine - in the 1970s, it published the names of 60 people purported to be CIA agents stationed in London - but has become less radical over the years. Time Out is now one of the best-known brands in global publishing. Elliott was the sole owner of the company until November 2010, when he sold a 50 per cent stake in the business to Oakley Capital.
Who are Time Out travel guides aimed at?
The guides are suitable for everyone, but are particularly aimed at young adults interested in entertainment and culture. As Wikipedia puts it: "The guides tend to focus on hip happenings."