Five months of announcing their partnership with Frommer’s Unlimited, Tourism Radio the producers of Hummba audio guides, are happy that Google has acquired travel guidebook producer.
Although the financial details of the transaction have not been made public, the buyout is now official. The acquisition comes after another acquisition of a “tourist-like” service: Zagat. Google bought the restaurant review service at US$151 million in September 2011.
Hummba a South African app from Tourism Radio uses Frommer’s content to produce audio travel guides for iPhone and Android smartphones.
Tourism Radio’s CEO Mark Allewell said that the fact that Google is expanding its existing travel interests means it is obviously committed to developing the industry, and in so doing, completely changing the way people travel.
“Frommer’s is one of the most trusted travel guide names in the World and they are a perfect addition to the Google stable,” Allewell said.
In a statement made last week, John Wiley & Sons, the firm behind Frommer’s, said:
“On August 10, 2012, Wiley entered into a definitive agreement to sell all of its travel assets, including all of its interests in the Frommer’s brand, to Google. Proceeds from this sale, and others that may arise from the sale of other consumer assets, will be redeployed to support growth opportunities in Professional/Trade; Scientific, Technical, Medical, and Scholarly; and Global Education businesses.”
The acquisition is expected to make Frommer’s travel guides more relevant to even Google users, but reports on how this will add on to Google’s existing products, like Google Maps are however unavailable.
