Destinations Travel magazine in world first

In what is believed to be a “first”, readers of the independently published Destinations travel magazine and its “pleasure series” annual leisure guides, now have the pages literally talking to them –  in a choice of 12 languages!

To mark their 10th Anniversary Edition, Destinations magazine publisher Bruce Laybourn has announced that a number of editions are now “live” and can be read, cover-to-cover, on the web. 

More dramatically, they are translated instantly and can even be read out loud by the subscriber’s computer.  Languages include English, German, Greek, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian, simplified and traditional Chinese.

“For six months, we’ve been working with Newspaper Direct, the world’s leading newspaper and magazine digital delivery company, based in Canada.  The system is now up and running, and we are adding new and archived editions as fast as possible.  We’re especially proud that, as we go global, around 45% of our 10th anniversary edition promotes New Zealand, Australia and our Pacific neighbours.

“This has natural appeal to the technology generation, but our older readers will enjoy the advantage of being able to zoom the print size up by five steps for easier reading, and to have stories read out loud to them.   Our advertisers love the fact that their messages never die, and a click will take readers straight into the websites of travel-related products and services.”

Destinations was New Zealand’s first travel magazine, with a growing Australian readership and content, and Bruce Laybourn says it is fitting that it should once again pioneer new territory.  “Imagine, before a flight, being able to download as many magazine editions as you wish for the journey, without gaining a gram in cabin baggage!  You can search our archives and take with you the stories on your destination, or send them to a friend who is due to travel.  As an advertiser, just think of the extra life that an advert has, especially when, by hovering over a link on a magazine page, the reader can instantly connect to the website of a product or service. ”

“This does for magazine readers what the compact disc did for music.”

The Newspaper Direct portfolio is subscribed to by most major North American libraries, cruise ships, private business jets and private yachts as well as many corporate offices and governments (including the NZ Government).  This opens up a vast new readership for the Destinations Media publications, says Bruce Laybourn, one that reaches an audience far in excess of physical printed magazine numbers and traditional readership estimates.

For the rest of the month, Destinations is inviting free registration to browse the magazines for one session on line at  www.destinationsmedia.travel.

“As media converges, and as we expect to access entertainment and information at any time, Destinations has taken a lead in delivering authoritative travel information to the desktop, the laptop and to the reader on the move, in addition to publishing our award-winning printed magazine.”

“While we all enjoy the full colour of the printed travel story, I suspect that, right from childhood, there is something special about having adventures read out to us.  Now, it’s rather nice that the future of publishing is taking us back to that same spoken medium where we first learned about the world of destinations and the magic of travel.”