My house is full of books, mostly read, some still to be opened. I get carried by the thousand seductions of thinking; the topics to investigate are many, certainly more than the time available to do it.
On the market you can find volumes to cover just about every topic. Books generally deal with some issue in a systematic way and, if they are good, try to provide as much information as possible on that matter. When the issues you are interested in are many, and you want to read about them all, then you need an encyclopaedia. Encyclopaedias are usually nice to look at, made up of numerous volumes, and … uncomfortable to carry under your arm! Being extremely complex works, they furthermore tend to reach the public when their contents are already outdated.
The Internet is convenient, and Google has become a familiar sound by now, almost like the word “mummy”; however, it does not have the charm and the impact of a good book, giving you the pleasure to feel its soft paper and draw immediate emotions from its photographs.
Discussing this scenario with our chief editor Floriana Lipparini, we identified a flaw in the current publishing arena: despite the enormous number of titles, a book is missing – a book that, though not being encyclopaedic, supplies updated information on the various scenarios the hospitality and travel industries are cutting out for themselves in the near future; a book containing information coming from the most important international and national players; a book also collecting the information which daily reaches the editorial office of a newspaper. Or, rather, such a book was missing, because the idea which was shyly making its way in our minds at the beginning of the year, that initially vague intention, during the months has taken up a more and more definite shape, and has developed into a project: “Almanacco di Job in Tourism 2006. Guida al futuro. I nuovi trend dell’industria del turismo” (“Job in Tourism Year-Book 2006. A guide to the future. New trends in the tourist industry”). Its content? It will deal with current issues. For example, there will be interviews with the Presidents of hotel chains Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts of Hong Kong and Fairmont Hotels & Resorts of Canada, who will discuss their own ideas on tourism, in the eastern and western perspectives; famous architect Marco Piva will illustrate his vision of hotel facilities; two cases will be presented on the importance of communication for tourist companies and locations. In short, as from December, it is going to be a good, useful and pleasant book, or so we trust.
I would like to say many more things about this project, but I should not carry on too long, lest they “cut” my story: they are very strict with space. We will talk about it another time.
Translation of the Italian
editorial by Paola Praloran
Comments are closed