Where do tourist guides come from?

The Routard has many ancestors

In 2023, the Routard guidebook celebrated its 50th anniversary. Yet it is the latest in a long line of creations over 200 years, as this France Culture capsule explains. The first guide called the "Guide des voyageurs en Europe" appeared in 1793. Written by the German Heinrich August Ottokar Reichard, this one offers maps, suggestions on places to visit (called curiosities) and routes with useful advice on stagecoaches.

French people sniffed out the thread and first of all, Jean-Marie-Vincent was going to copy Reichard's guide by using the name of Richard to mix the audience well. Meanwhile, Louis Hachette, a famous publisher, saw the interest of people for these books and hired Adolphe Joanne to write them. A battle was born between these blue books and the red German Baedecker collections, translated into French and English. Each reached a certain audience, and when World War I broke out, the English Baedecker translators teamed up with Hachette to create a blue-colored guidebook on each side of the English Channel.

However, another competitor popped up in 1910. The tire manufacturer Michelin sensed the interest in the automobile and thus developed books to tell travelers where to get one, which roads to follow, etc.

The Routard would thus arrive much later, in the 1970s, by Hachette editions, which wanted to publish more democratic works and related to the changing mores from that time on. In 2022, 1.9 million copies of the Routard were printed.

However, the latter is seeing its popularity decrease, now directed to social networks, online sites, etc. Nevertheless, when wi-fi is not stable or available, the travel guide is still a safe bet for the traveler wishing to get information.

Length: 4min50