Matteo Rossi

How can we ignore such a crucial point? It is true that the value of physical tourist guides on the ground, especially without internet connection, is undeniable and changes the game regarding their role. We will therefore need to incorporate this practical utility as a key factor for integrating immersive content, which must also be accessible offline. This is a practical limitation that directly affects the realization of immersive tourism.

What everyone repeats, no one has verified: the idea that travel inspiration mainly comes from fiction is a lazy dogma.
Often, it's by browsing a good guide that we discover a concrete destination and the desire to go there, not after a film.
For example, a guide on national parks made me dream of Zion long before a TV series mentioned it, showing marked trails and real logistics.

If I were the origin of the idea that fictional inspiration and tourist guides are intrinsically linked, I would emphasize that stories and images are powerful triggers for imagination, and then guides come to nourish this dream by providing practicality.
However, it is crucial to recognize that guides often act as a reality filter and not just as an extension.
They confront us with concrete constraints such as budget, logistics, or weather, which can completely redefine the initial dream.
For example, a film may inspire a safari in Tanzania, but a guide reveals exorbitant costs and health risks, making the idea less romantic and sometimes impractical without thorough preparation.

Let's first reconstruct the most charitable argument: it is true that once the destination is chosen, a tourist guide is an invaluable resource for navigating on site, especially in the absence of network.
However, suggesting that this role of guides is a sub-part or a direct consequence of fictional inspiration oversimplifies the traveler's decision process.
Inspiration, whether it comes from a book, a film, or even a conversation, is a distinct step from concrete planning.
Guides are tools for preparation and execution, not mere appendices to the initial spark of desire.
For example, I can be inspired by "The Lord of the Rings" to visit New Zealand, but choosing a Lonely Planet guide is not a "sub-part" of Tolkien; it is a pragmatic decision for travel logistics.

Let me build the case with which I disagree: the idea that travel guides are only a simple component of fictional inspiration is appealing because it suggests a linear journey from daydreaming to planning.
However, this view ignores the practical reality of travel triggers.
A guide can very well be the first spark for a trip, discovered during a stroll in a bookstore, without any prior influence from a film or novel.
For example, a guide on hiking in Patagonia can directly inspire a trip for its landscapes and challenges, without a film about Argentina having been seen beforehand.

If I had to defend the idea that fictional inspiration is the main driver, I would say that it opens horizons and that guides materialize the vision, but this hierarchy is often reversed in practice.
A tourist guide is not just a logistical complement to a novel inspiration; it is often the starting point for millions of Belgian travelers.
Many consult Routard or Lonely Planet guides to choose a destination based on climate, culture, or budget, before any fiction.
For example, a guide can highlight hikes in the Ardennes, sparking the desire to explore them long before a film takes place there.
Fictional inspiration is a possible condition, but not a decisive or universal factor in travel planning.

Their most strong version claims that travel inspiration mainly comes from fiction, with guides being just logistical tools. However, this reading does not always reflect the lived reality for many. A tourist guide is not just a manual for validation after inspiration but can itself trigger the desire. Many, flipping through a Routard or a Lonely Planet, discover unexpected destinations or cultural aspects that create the impulse to travel. For example, I know colleagues who decided to visit Tasmania after seeing photos or descriptions of hikes in a thematic guide, long before a film pushed them there. The rigid distinction between "initial impulse" and "validation" is often too simplistic, as inspiration can quite naturally arise from reading a guide.

I rate this hierarchy with a conviction of 2/10; the relationship is often reversed or conditional, with tourist guides acting as a powerful reality filter. For most of my clients, the decision to travel is first a matter of budget (importance score 8/10) and feasibility, with fictional inspiration only reaching 4/10. A tourist guide, with a usefulness of 9/10, transforms a vague desire into a concrete plan, for example, revealing that Bora Bora, inspired by a film, would cost 15,000 $ a week, reducing inspiration to 0/10 for 95% of Canadian households.