Gap-year students urged to consult guidebooks

Students about to embark on a year of globetrotting may want to consider using a number of guidebooks to navigate their travels, one expert has suggested.

According to a spokesperson for the Association of British Travel Agents, Sean Tipton, before there was a wide range of guidebooks available, travelling around the world could be 'very daunting.'

However, travel books are now a great help to gap-year students, he said.

'On the whole [guidebooks] are extremely accurate and are one of the main reasons why travel around the whole world has become so much easier,' he remarked.

Mr Tipton added that it is hard for publishers to keep guidebooks up to date due to the nature of the content and undoubtedly 'mistakes will creep in.'

According to a travel-guide market research report by photographer Jim Batty, young single graduates are not the most likely demographic to purchase guidebooks, while Londoners aged 25 to 34 are the top purchasers of such products.