Still more developments in the W.H. Smith - Penguin furor: The British Guild of Travel Writers has announced that it is launching an aggressive campaign to counter the deal by offering free “holiday planning clinics” featuring travel book authors and “2-3 travel experts who would visit a bookshop and talk to customers and staff about a particular area” to any bookstore that asks, says Victoria Gallagher in a report for The Bookseller.  

The in-store events “could range from a specific destination to holiday health or how to take better travel pictures. The workshops would provide basic holiday advice, information on good places to go when traveling and the best guide to buy to suit your needs,” says Gallagher.

In addition, the BGTW has joined the the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild (OWPG) in calling upon the Office of Fair Trade to look into the deal. In a letter to the OFT, BGTW head Melissa Shales says, ”We believe that this is a restrictive vertical agreement, contrary to the Competition Act 1998, between two parties with significant market power in the travel guide market. It will have the effect of restricting competition and consumer choice, and of causing significant detriment to members of our association.”