Summer is in full swing in Montreal, which welcomes about 11 million visitors each year. While many tourists have abandoned their travel guides to find their way around the city, preferring to surf the Internet more quickly with their phones, paper guides are not yet dead. Fourth article in a series of five on tourism in Montreal.
“I’ve been traveling with my paper guide for 30 years, I really have a hard time letting go of it,” confides Maryline Bramm, 52, who we met with her daughter in Old Montreal on a sunny Tuesday in July. Sitting on a bench in Place Jacques-Cartier, they were leafing through their Routard guide to Quebec and Ontario to visit the neighborhood.
“The guide saves me a lot of research. It gives me the essentials to do right away with explanations about the monuments and their history,” she explains. Her paper companion also saves her a hefty phone bill when she returns. “It’s really expensive when you come from Europe, it’s not worth it.”
Beyond the price of Internet packages when you come from overseas, it is above all the need for digital disconnection that pushes Marine Da Costa to use a travel guide. “I enjoy my trip much more. I am far from the e-mails demon jobfar from the hubbub of social networks. I’m totally disconnected!” says the 28-year-old woman from the south of France.
Like a ritual, his purchase at the bookstore marks the beginning of his adventure each time. Once the trip is over, his guide ends up in his library, when it doesn’t pass through the hands of his friends. “I’m starting to have a nice collection,” continues Marine Da Costa. “In addition to the photos, it allows me to have a souvenir of my travels.”
Digital competition
When you walk around Old Montreal, you have to notice that tourists are much more likely to use their phones as guides. Most of the people who are called out by The duty came from the United States, Ontario or other regions of Quebec. For a short stay, they consider it unnecessary to burden themselves with a travel guide.
“A guide takes up space. It’s easier and quicker to look on my phone,” admits John Davis, who came from Vermont with his two children. It must be said that his Internet plan costs him almost nothing more once he crosses the border. “I get a few recommendations from the Tourist Office. For the rest, everything is on Google in a few clicks,” he adds.
Chloé and Sarah, who are passing through Montreal for three days before returning to Saguenay, prefer to explore the city “a bit randomly” by following the recommendations of blogs and influencers. “I already spend a lot of time on Instagram and TikTok, so it’s more natural for me to find ideas there. The photos make you want to go, you know better what to expect when you get there,” says Sarah before heading with her friend to the Ferris wheel in the Old Port.
Guide publishers adapt
These changes in the habits of tourists, who increasingly rely on social networks, blogs and Google Maps to guide them abroad, are felt in bookstores specializing in travel.
“There is a 3% decline in sales of practical travel guides year after year. We still sell them, but in smaller formats, focused on a city or region,” says Daniel Desjardins, owner of the Ulysse travel bookstore in Montreal.
“Generally speaking, practical guides are being pushed aside and replaced by thematic guides which are books of inspiration,” he continues. The sales charts confirm this. We find in the top 3 North America in VR. 50 dream itineraries, Europe by train. 50 dream routes And Italy. 50 dream itineraries.
Mr. Desjardins makes no secret of the fact that focusing on thematic travel books is a way of preserving his turnover.
The same trend is observed at the Archambault and Renaud-Bray bookstores. Spokesperson Floriane Claveau, however, is more optimistic about the future of travel guides. “There are still many places where it is difficult to have Internet. The paper guide becomes a safe and essential base once you are there,” she maintains, certain that the travel guide is not about to disappear.