Lonely Planet sales have grown steadily by 15 to 20 percent each year.

The competition has led Let's Go to launch a series of measures to regain the college market-including a cross-country road trip to hand out free books on college campuses and an attempt to allow travelers to customize itineraries online.

In one area, however, Let's Go is playing catch-up. Lonely Planet recently partnered with Palm Pilot to allow tourists to forgo a clunky map and travel book for a square inch chip of information. Soon, Let's Go hopes to do the same.

ON THE STUDENT FRONT

The Lonely Planet threat is farther from the horizon in the student offices of Let's Go, where the staff is currently preparing to release their nearly 200 research-writers into the field.

"Lonely Planet is always one of our competitors, but we're doing fine, we exceeded our budget and we're making oodles of money," says Sarah P. Rotman `02, publishing director of Let's Go.

Rotman and other students at Let's Go say Lonely Planet is not a serious concern, but more an incentive to produce quality work.