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Hu Min, a former journalist, joined Lonely Planet as a Chinese author for its guidebooks in 2013. Previous experience in journalism has helped Hu find interesting touristy spots for readers of Lonely Planet.

Hu's latest project is writing a travel guide of Qingdao, a popular port city in Shandong province. Before going to the city, Hu read up a lot on it, including geography books, local chronicles and even novels related to Qingdao.

"I seldom read online travel guides, they are homogeneous in content," says Hu, who likes to talk to local people while searching for new touristy places.

For Chinese tourists going overseas, ample localized information such as visas requirements, flights and places of special significance, are added to the guides, Li says.

When asked if printed guidebooks would be made redundant by online travel guides soon, Li says: "The demand for travel information will always exist, and a printed guidebook will always be one of the mediums to provide that information."

Contact the writer at xingyi@chinadaily.com.cn