The world is not enough

It's early afternoon and we're sitting in a makeshift interview canopy smack-dab in the centre of the bustling Penguin Books stall at the World Book Fair, but Kevin Fitzgerald is getting poetic about Fort Kochi "" a personal favourite among the many places he's been to in India.

"We were on the sunset cruise," he says dreamily, "and they turned the boat around just as the sun was going down, and we watched it while lazily sipping our gin and tonic." He's beaming now. "The architecture is wonderful too "" a grand mix of Portuguese and Indian styles, and you can make out the historical progression from one style to the next."

The description makes me want to hotfoot it to Kerala immediately, and it's clear that Rough Guides has the right man in charge. Travelling isn't just something Fitzgerald is passionate about, it's vital to his job as the managing director of the fast-growing travel-guide publisher.

And the pride in his voice as he lists his company's achievements is unmistakable. Featuring high on this list is that, unlike many other knowledge providers, Rough Guides has always known which way the wind was blowing. "Keeping up with the changes in technology, being cutting-edge...those are our big strengths," he says.

"We were the first travel company to have a website of our own. We also started the trend of putting information into CDs and distributing them with our books." A special "In Touch" CD, introduced two years ago, provides travellers with the facility of setting up their own password-protected website, where they can upload notes on their travels and share them with friends. "We initiated the idea of travel-blogging," jokes the MD, "before it was even a widely known term."

The latest innovation is the development of a series of "Rough Guides iToors Podcasts" "" free downloadable audio files, each between 45 minutes and one hour long, with verbal descriptions of hotspots in a city.

"These podcasts are not direct readings of the material in our books," Fitzgerald hastens to point out, "but have been developed as separate products, targeted at a more technology-friendly audience." So far, the prototypes for six such city guides have been developed; others will follow depending on the response.

Meanwhile, the company's India operations have been growing steadily. Rough Guides has three India-specific titles in print "" the Rough Guides to India, Goa and South India "" and plans are underway to develop separate books for Rajasthan and Kerala, which, as Fitzgerald says, "have become global tourist destinations".

More interestingly, these new books will be the first to be produced entirely by the company's Delhi office, which was set up three years ago. "Our staff here has so far being doing everything from cartography to page layout," says Fitzgerald, "and they are in good shape to create books from scratch."

Unlike many other people in his position, Fitzgerald doesn't back away from a candid discussion of where his brand stands relative to its competition. "Lonely Planet," he says, cutting right to the chase, "is a quality product but is aimed at a different type of traveller "" at the backpacker, who travels in a group.

We, on the other hand, cater to the independent-minded, cultured traveller." Dorling Kindersley has a great visual quality, he says, "but is short on descriptions and indepth information".

Approximately 25 per cent of the company's publications are non-travel books, a segment that is growing apace. These include dozens of music guides, a pocket Internet guide and associated computing and web titles, and a range of books on sports, popular culture, lifestyle, literature and science. "his fits in with our brand value," says Fitzgerald, "since we find that the typical informal traveller tends to be interested in these subjects."

Rough Guides has also recently introduced a guide to iPods and iTunes "" "not a dense, jargon-packed manual but something that's aimed at the casual reader". One of the challenges in producing such books, he says, is that because technology changes so rapidly, they have to be revised more frequently than once a year. "So we'll be updating it every six months."

With regularly updated information available on the Internet, traditional knowledge sources "" like print encyclopaedias that have centuries of history behind them "" are facing difficult new challenges. Does Fitzgerald worry that printed guide books will eventually lose their relevance? "No, I don't," he says firmly.

"Some experiences, reading on a beach for instance, can be enjoyed only with a traditional book in your hands. And even if something like a viable electronic substitute does crop up at some point, I'm confident it won't be during my career!"