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Lonely Planet to represent Thomas Cook

29.02.08 Victoria Arnstein

Thomas Cook is moving its sales representation from the AA to Lonely Planet because it feels the brands are better suited for joint representation.

John Sadler, head of travel guides at Thomas Cook, said the publisher was "increasingly overlapping with the AA target market", whereas it felt it had a "complementary brand fit" with LP.

This is the first time that Lonely Planet has distributed any brands besides its own, and sales director Richard Samson has not ruled out the possibility of distributing for others in the future. "We are really concentrating on showing Thomas Cook, the book trade and our own board that we can do a really good job, and if that is the case we will look at how we can develop beyond that."

Lonely Planet's sales force will represent Thomas Cook in the UK and Ireland from April for an initial three-year period. The move will see Thomas Cook move its distribution from The Book Service to Grantham Book Services, but since these are both Random House-owned, Sadler believes there will be little noticeable change for booksellers that already stock Thomas Cook guides.

Samson added that he did not necessarily believe LP's sales force would reach parts of the market that AA had not, but that the brands were better suited. "I don't think anyone ever stands in a bookshop and thinks which shall I go for, Thomas Cook or Lonely Planet."

He added that by representing Thomas Cook, LP would be in a good position to build relationships with markets that it does not sell into already, such as supermarkets. "[It] will stand us in good stead should that channel ever become ripe for Lonely Planet."

Victoria Arnstein

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