Wanderlust Publications

11 January 2010
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The UK’s leading adventure travel magazine

Once upon a time (well, in 1992 to be precise) two keen travellers were very bored on a longhaul flight to Ecuador with nothing to read or watch. Their conversation turned to how there wasn’t a travel magazine for people like them. They borrowed a pen from a stewardess, and sketched out their perfect magazine on the back of a sickbag. By the time the plane landed at Quito, Lyn Hughes and Paul Morrison had said, “Hey, we could do this!’ A year later, Wanderlust magazine was born in their spare bedroom on one Apple Mac.

The magazine has grown a lot since those humble beginnings, leading the way in the production of intelligent and inspirational travel publishing, and picking up numerous awards and accolades along the way with its blend of quirky features, practical reviews and tips, and insights and ideas.

Wanderlust focuses on adventurous travel, with local culture, wildlife and walking being of most interest to the 100,000-plus readers who devour the magazine eight times a year. The readers are all ages and both sexes, but have a huge passion for travel in common. They travel overseas several times a year, and are constantly planning their next trip. While 80% of the readership is in the UK, we do have subscribers in 112 countries, and see ourselves becoming more global over time. Indeed, we recently launched digital subscriptions for overseas readers who would rather read the magazine online.

After a long fight with cancer, Paul Morrison died in December 2004 and Lyn took on the roles of managing director and publisher, as well as editor-in-chief. The Times of London lauded Lyn as one of the “50 Most Influential People in Travel.”

In 2005, the first annual Paul Morrison World Guide Awards was launched in Paul’s name, to recognise and reward those undersung heroes of the travel world, the tour guide. The results are announced each year in a prestigious ceremony at the Royal Geographical Society in London, with winners and runners-up over the past four years coming from Zambia, Romania, Mongolia, Scotland, South Africa, India, Ecuador, Egypt and India.

Wanderlust Publications has also expanded into editorial and media services for other travel companies and associations, including producing several customer magazines. Lyn acts as a consultant to several tourist boards, and serves on a variety of tourism-related committees.

Wanderlust also runs the UK’s largest travel photography competition each year, and currently has two busy websites (one of which is a community site), which are about to be redeveloped into one exciting new site, with phase one launching in the spring – watch this space.

We are very excited to be joining ATTA as we have long felt that there should be an organisation that serves the community of organisations that make up the world of adventure travel. We look forward to networking with like-minded individuals and companies from around the world, sharing intelligence and working together to promote adventurous, responsible and life-enhancing travel worldwide.

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