‘End of an era’: AA to stop publishing free maps and travel guides

The New Zealand Car Affiliation (AA) has stopped publishing its extended-working absolutely free maps and journey guides, with just one hospitality employee describing it as “the finish of an era”.

AA main partnerships officer Greig Leighton stated the association’s tourism publishing company would near, meaning the maps and guides would no for a longer time be posted in September as common.

Involved in domestic tourism because the 1920s, the AA’s journey arm AA Traveller prints a lot more than 3 million guides and maps a calendar year. Digital variations are also accessible, and these will also be discontinued.

With titles these kinds of as New Zealand Road Atlas, South Island Road Journeys and New Zealand Ought to Dos, the guides have been staples in Kiwi airports, AA centres, iSites, motels, motels, and automobile glove compartments for many years, as have the maps.

Suzanne Cooper, who operates Clarks Beach front Holiday break Park with her spouse Gavin, explained the discontinuation of the maps and guides as “the conclude of an era” as generations of New Zealanders have developed up with them.

“I remember seeing the outdated AA maps on the dashboards of travellers’ cars and trucks again in the 1970s,” she stated.

“The brochures with the maps in them have been invaluable to give to travelers, primarily individuals just starting up out their holiday… A ton of travelers would maintain the maps and get them dwelling as a memento from their vacation to New Zealand.”

Leighton stated the price of creating the print products and solutions, a drop in marketing, and transforming traveller conduct experienced built the continuation of the tourism publishing organization untenable.

“I most likely don’t have to tell you about the stress on print in conditions of paper costs and distribution expenses,” he said.

“The tourism segment has been by a hard several many years, and they’ve seemed actually tough at what they do with their funds.”

Numerous advertisers have turned to electronic platforms, as have travellers, he mentioned.

Cooper, nonetheless, reported she thinks there is nonetheless a place for fantastic-excellent printed maps and brochures.

“When that cyclone hits, and there is a trouble with the internet accessibility, people maps have been extremely significant.”

When the guides and maps had been initially released, Leighton mentioned most Kiwis holidayed domestically.

“It was highly-priced and a bit of a luxurious to journey internationally – which is adjusted. It is transformed again in new a long time, but as ability comes back again you will see selling prices drop internationally.

“But in the early days (of the guides) a great deal of men and women went to holiday getaway parks or baches if they have been lucky adequate to have them, or they went and stayed at area motels, and the holiday was finished by motor automobile. So you obtained out your map, you received out your guideline, and you went to locations they advised.”

Leighton explained AA Traveller’s bi-once-a-year magazine AA Instructions, which has a travel area, would proceed, and that travel-related positive aspects for AA associates would keep on being in spot.

AA Traveller’s Expedia-run accommodation scheduling technique will also continue to keep on likely.

Some associates of staff members who labored on the guides have been moved to other sections of the enterprise, but there have been “some redundancies”, Leightson explained.

“We experienced an remarkable crew of designers, photographers, cartographers – who are rather rare these times –and writers. It was a lean team that set a superb publication jointly. They did a great task for us. It’s just that issues have improved.”

Maps and guides will remain on the shelves right up until they run out, and electronic versions are readily available on the AA Traveller web site and on digital publishing platform Issuu.