Guidebook amps up digital tools

The world’s best-known guidebook brand, Lonely Planet, has launched a new flightscomparison engine with travel search provider Skyscanner. Since its beginnings as one small travel guide written by boho travellers Tony and Maureen Wheeler in 1972, Across Asia on the Cheap, the company has expanded into one of the world’s biggest online travel hubs – with the aim of making every travel experience bookable on its site. Flight prices can now be checked and compared from within the site itself. Also handy are its forums – with a community of more than 1.3 million members they provide invaluable advice for intended destinations, including warnings of recent scams. The site provides information on 27,000 destinations. Pictured: Tony Wheeler, speaking in Queenstown last year.