Lonely Planet hits back in guidebook row

MELBOURNE – Lonely Planet has defended the accuracy of its travel guides following reports that one of its authors claimed he plagiarised and invented sections of the books.

Author Thomas Kohnstamm , who lives in Seattle, claimed his remarks – reported in Australian newspapers – were “taken out of context.”

Newspapers have reported Kohnstamm’s claims that he made up parts of the books he wrote, lifted information from other publications and accepted gifts in contravention of Lonely Planet’s policies.

Lonely Planet is reviewing the books that Kohnstamm contributed to but has so far found nothing inaccurate, said publisher Piers Pickard.

He said Lonely Planet’s reputation was built on the integrity of its books and any inaccuracies would be quickly fixed.

Lonely Planet guidebooks plainly state that their writers “do not accept payments, discounts or freebies in exchange for positive coverage of any sort”.

Kohnstamm told Associated Press that while he had accepted perks such as discounted hotel rooms and free meals, he “never traded positive editorial coverage for any sort of a freebie”.

The newspapers also reported that Kohnstamm said he did not visit one of the countries he wrote about.

“They didn’t pay me enough to go to Colombia,” Kohnstamm was quoted as saying. “I wrote the book in San Francisco. I got the information from a chick I was dating who was an intern in the Colombian consulate.”

In a review of Kohnstamm’s work, Lonely Planet says it has so far found :

1. There are three titles in print to which Thomas has contributed on-the-ground research. The affected titles are Chile & Easter Island (7th edition), South America on a shoestring (10th edition) and Caribbean Islands (4th edition). We have sent out author teams to fact-check all his material in these books.

2. Thomas talks most about his work on Brazil (6th edition). This book is now out of print and has been replaced by the current edition. This has been fully updated, and Thomas has not contributed to it at all.

3. Thomas has claimed that he was not paid enough to travel to Colombia when he was employed as an author on our Colombia guide. The fact is that Thomas was not employed as an on-the-ground author on that guidebook. This means that he did not write any reviews – of places or establishments – in this book. His contribution was to the introductory chapter covering history, culture, food and drink and environment. Two on-the-ground authors wrote the reviews for the Colombia guide.

4. We are also reviewing Venezuela (5th edition). Thomas did not contribute destination information to this guidebook, but did act in a coordinating role during its production.

5. Thomas claims he was not paid enough by Lonely Planet to do the job without shortcuts. While we ask a lot of our authors, we lead the industry in the fees we pay, and are committed to a yearly review of author fees.
We’re confident that the vast majority of our information is sound and accurate. Where we find any problems, we’ll make it right by providing new content. We know that you place a huge amount of trust in us, and we will live up to that trust.

Kohnstamm is due to visit Australia to promote his new book “Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?” about his experiences in the guidebook business.

Lonely Planet publishes more than 500 titles, mostly travel guides. In 2007, the BBC Worldwide bought a 75 percent share in the company.

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