These are just a few of the tips on business etiquette offered by the Economist newspaper’s online travel guides. Economist.com has just launched its 24th business travel guide, to Mumbai. Available free from the website, the guides offer advice on everything from a city’s hotels to its hottest nightclub. They contain concise histories, facts, figures and economic profiles of destinations. Each one also has a “catch if you can” section, detailing current events, such as classical music concerts in a city.
One of the most popular areas of the guides has been the advice on business etiquette in each city, contained in the insider tips section.
“They are something that you can’t really find anywhere else,” said Sarah Dallas, editor of the Cities Guide series. “Some of them may seem quite funny, but they are important if you want to make a good impression and close a deal.”
The guides were first published in 2001. Dallas, 37, formerly ran the Time Out website and approached the Economist with the idea of launching online travel guides which complemented the main newspaper.
“We feel the guides fit in well with the Economist brand, because they are very informative, and hopefully they will also encourage new people to pick up the paper,” said Dallas. “Our market research shows that we have more women and more people in the 25-34 year old bracket reading the guides than the paper, which is perhaps understandable when you are talking about an online product.”
The guides are updated each year and Dallas wants to have 30 within the next few years; Toronto, Seoul and Beijing are next on the list. Some of the guides have been available in print form but the Economist has no plans to produce them all in that format. “It made sense with some guides, such as the one to London, but it is really an online offering and that’s the plan going forward,” she said.
Dallas said another unique feature of the business guides is that they each come with a free monthly newsletter. Unlike the guides, people have to subscribe to the newsletters and so far 280,000 have done just that to receive the bulletins which contain current information and opinion on the cities.
The recent Mumbai newsletter discussed the city’s ‘dreadful airport’ and a controversial ban on dance clubs while the London bulletin advised people about transport affected by the recent bombs. “In both the guides and the newsletters, we are very blunt, which is the Economist’s style,” said Dallas.
“We got some criticism when the London guide first came out because we said the City’s workers had a drinking culture and that many West End theatres were overpriced, with cramped seats and horrible bars. But people appreciate the honesty of the guides.”
Although intended for business travellers, Dallas said the guides were also enjoyed by holidaymakers. “We’ve had Americans come over here and tell us they always use the guides when they go on holiday,” said Dallas.
The guides are available at www.economist.com/cities but travellers have been warned that they, and the newsletters, may not always be free. “We’ll have to see about that. Nothing has been decided yet, but I’d advise people to subscribe to the newsletters while there’s still no charge,” said Dallas.
Samples from economist.com city guides, insider tips (business etiquette) section:
