Fodor's

Fodor's Travel

Type	Division of Random House
Industry	Publishing (Travel guides)
Founder(s)	Eugene Fodor
Headquarters	Random House Tower, New York City, NY, USA
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Fodor's Travel Guides
Owner(s)	Bertelsmann/Random House
Website	fodors.com

Fodor's ( /ˈfoʊdərz/) is the world's largest publisher of English language travel and tourism information, and the first relatively professional producer of travel guidebooks. Fodor's Travel and Fodors.com are divisions of Random House, Inc.

History

Founder Eugene Fodor was a keen traveler, but felt that the guidebooks of his time were boring, uninspired collections of quickly outdated facts and figures. He decided to address these shortcomings and wrote a guide to Europe, On the Continent—The Entertaining Travel Annual, which was published in 1936 by Francis Aldor, Aldor Publications, London.

Going beyond the usual lists of hotels and attractions, the book was updated yearly and gave practical guidance, such as tipping advice, alongside information about the local people and culture. For example, in the introduction, Fodor wrote "Rome contains not only magnificent monuments, but also Italians."

The pioneering book was a success in England and the United States. Fodor's Modern Guides, Inc. was founded in 1949 in Paris, France and David McKay Company began publishing the books a year later. McKay was sold to Random House in 1986.

In 1996, Fodor's launched a travel-related website fodors.com, which was nominated for a Webby Award in 2004. Today, Fodor's has published more than 440 guides (in 14 series) on over 300 destinations, and has more than 700 permanently placed researchers all over the world.

The Fodor's division's current Publisher is Tim Jarrell, who is known for his opening letter to the reader in each travel guide.

References

• "About Us". Fodors.com. http://www.fodors.com/about/us/ftp_about.cfm. Retrieved October 28, 2005. 
• "Random House Information Group". RandomHouse.com. http://www.randomhouse.com/publishers/pub_info.html. Retrieved October 28, 2005. 
• "Eugene Fodor". Encyclopædia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9034722. Retrieved November 1, 2005. 
• "Travel: literature and guidebooks". Princeton University. http://libguides.princeton.edu/content.php?pid=64128&sid=473653. Retrieved August 18, 2010. 

External links

• Fodors.com, official site.