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Penguin's market share of the travel sector has grown since the beginning of its exclusive deal on foreign guides with WH Smith Travel but sales still remain down year-on-year.
However, publishers have said that they are "holding steady" thanks to UK guides selling well. During the four weeks to 11th July 2009 (when WHS' Penguin-only deal was in operation), sales through Nielsen BookScan's "Atlases, Maps & Travel" product class grew 3.3%, by value, in comparison to the previous four-week period.
Penguin's sales through the sector grew 7.9%, to £1.2m, due to rises at DK (7%) and Rough Guides (8.9%). Penguin's market share saw a growth of 0.6% in this same period.
Meanwhile, sales at Lonely Planet grew 2.6% and sales at AA grew 7.1%. However, sales at Berlitz stayed flat.
AA UK trade sales director Simon Willis said: "For us at the moment we're not doing too badly, we've seen an increase in the last few weeks. We've got a lot of UK guides, so if people aren't going abroad then hopefully they're staying at home. It's fairly encouraging."
Bradt managing director Donald Greig agreed that UK guides were selling well. He added: "Our turnover is pretty much matching, but what we're not seeing this year is any growth. We're holding steady but we're having to work hard to do so."
During the four-weeks to 11th July period, the travel sector sales were down 6.3% year-on-year. The decline at Penguin is much steeper at -10.6%, while sales are also down by 10.9% at Lonely Planet, and were down 8.5% at AA and down 20% at Berlitz.