The British Guild of Travel Writers has issued an official complaint to the Office of Fair Trading over the decision by WH Smith Travel to make publisher Penguin the sole supplier of foreign travel guides in its travel outlets.

“We believe that this is a restrictive vertical agreement, contrary to the Competition Act 1998, between two parties with significant market power in the travel guide market. It will have the effect of restricting competition and consumer choice, and of causing significant detriment to members of our association,” said Chairman Melissa Shales in the letter to the OFT.

The contract means that the Penguin travel imprints of Dorling Kindersley, Rough Guides and Alastair Sawday will be the only foreign travel guides on offer at some 268 WHS Travel stores in airports and railway stations in the UK.

Other publishers marginalised

The move will also mean other popular guides such as Lonely Planet, Bradt, Michelin, Insight, Frommers, Time Out and Berlitz are marginalised and missing out on trade at airports as WHS signed an exclusive deal with BAA earlier this year to service its seven UK airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted.

Over the last week, the issue has provoked a widespread sense of injustice among British travellers, with scores of critical reports in national newspapers from the Daily Mail to The Independent to The Times, The Economist, plus wide internet and radio coverage including BBC Radio 4’s Today programme and You and Yours.

It prompted author and traveller Michael Palin to tell The Guardian that WH Smith’s move is an “unacceptable restriction of traveller’s choice” and for Margaret Drabble, Chairman of The Society of Authors, to inform Penguin it “should be ashamed”.

The letter added: “We believe that this gives [WH Smith and Penguin] significant market power in the market for travel books. Because of this exclusivity deal, there are no longer any other bookshops at the seven BAA airports, and therefore no alternative outlets available to other publishers.”

The letter was copied to:
• Kate Swann, Chief Executive, WH Smith PLC
• Robert Walker, Chairman, WH Smith PLC
• John Duhigg, Managing Director, Penguin Travel
• Ian McAllister, Chairman, Network Rail
• Iain Coucher, Chief Executive, Network Rail
• Sir Nigel Rudd, Chairman, BAA
• Colin Matthews, CEO, BAA
• Rt Hon Ben Bradshaw MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport
• Jeremy Hunt MP, Conservative Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
• Don Foster MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
• Gordon Banks MP, Chairman All Party Parliamentary Group on Publishing
• Ian Gibson, Chairman All Party Parliamentary Writers Group

Invitation to booksellers

As well as asking for a boycott of WH Smith and Penguin until such time as this deal is reversed, the Guild is offering to help other booksellers sell travel guides in the run-up to the summer holidays by organising in-store travel events.

“If you stock a wide selection of guidebooks and would like to organise a holiday planning clinic at your store, let us know,” said Melissa Shales. “We’ll see if we can match you up with some of our writers to come and offer the public advice on where and how to plan their holidays, which books will best suit their needs and give them great insider tips. We have experts in almost every destination from Montana to Moldova. After all, what we most want to do is sell as many guidebooks as possible – it’s in everyone’s best interests.”