Lonely Planet refreshes itself

The travel magazine has adopted a new look that it claims is easy to read; it has also added new sections in the October issue.

Lonely Planet, a UK-based travel magazine that is also distributed in India for the last three years, has revamped its look in its October issue. It claims the new look is easier to understand.

The magazine will now have shorter stories, well planned details for travel and more useful information about locations. It will also have better and brighter pictures, along with a couple of new sections such as Armchair Traveler and Our Planet.

Our Planet is an eye-opener with photo features, cutaways of famous monuments and museums, interviews with travellers, advices, heads-ups on festivals and news on great travel deals. Armchair Traveller will feature movies, TV shows and books that showcase the world, using locations almost as characters to tell a story. It will also feature reviews of the best mobile and tablet apps that can make travel easier and more interesting. It also has mini guides to specific experiences, like eating and drinking in famous places, or the best monuments in a city.

To maintain the bond with the readers, the magazine also features an 'advice page' and has expanded its 'Postcards' section. The new enlarged section will include more real life stories of the travellers, along with their photographs.

Vardhan Kondvikar, editor, Lonely Planet Magazine India, says, "We have changed the way we tell our stories. It will be in a format more acceptable to our readers. We realised that our readers had got exhausted from the earlier method, so we decided to revamp it and add a couple of more sections. It will be more in a way that suits India and a lot of the changes are a result of feedback from consumers."

The October edition of the magazine is the Winter issue, which features some of the best and less expensive places to visit across the globe in winters. It also has a paper jacket which is a guide to travel, wildlife and photography in different settings.

The issue has nearly 200 pages and is priced at Rs 150. The magazine aims to reach out to married people in the age group of 25-40 years without kids. It connects with people who can spend a reasonable amount without splurging.

Lonely Planet claims a circulation of 95,000 to 1,05,000 copies. Sixty per cent of this is sold on stands while the rest is sold via subscriptions. Lonely Planet is available at Landmark stores across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai.

The magazine maintains ad percentage of around 23-30 per cent. In 2012, Lonely Planet set up its first office in Gurgaon, India, publishing guidebooks for Indian travellers. However, it has been operational in the country for the last three years. It has offices in Melbourne, London and Oakland, with over 450 employees and more than 200 authors.