let s go inc. industry publications genre travel guides founded 1960 founder oliver koppell harvard student agencies headquarters cambridge ma usa area served worldwide products travel guidebooks parent harvard student agencies website http www.letsgo.com let s go is a travel guide series researched written edited and run entirely by students at harvard university . the first of the budget backpacker oriented travel guides 1 let s go promotes itself as the student travel guide but is aimed at readers both young and young at heart . 2 let s go was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in cambridge massachusetts . contents 1 history 1.1 founding 1.2 expansion 1.3 digital era 2 business model 3 editorial style 4 titles 5 notable alumni 6 in popular culture 6.1 films 6.2 music 6.3 print 6.4 television 7 references history edit founding edit the first let s go guide was a 25 page mimeographed pamphlet put together by an 18 year old harvard freshman named oliver koppell and handed out on student charter flights to europe ; the first professionally published guide was issued in 1961 . early guides tended to be freewheeling for example advising travelers on motorbiking through southeast asia in the late 1960s and financing travel in europe by singing in the street . the first edition described how to travel from europe to asia on just four cents by taking the ferry across the bosphorus from the european to the asian side of the city of istanbul turkey . 1 as the guide became more popular throughout the 1960s increasing quantities were printed every year . let s go also commissioned an artist richard copaken to give the series a logo its trademark hot air balloon . that other let s go logo the hitchhiker thumb did not appear until 1973 . maps and a general introduction section the before you go of modern guidebooks were added and the venture went national . sales skyrocketed after let s go business manager andrew tobias promoted the books on the today show in 1966 . citation needed the company s success inspired it to produce spin off titles in the late 1960s . one of let s go s most irreverent titles let s go ii the student guide to adventure covered exotic destinations such as red china and wrote in its vietnam chapter just about no one wants to go to vietnam these days . most americans who do travel there go with the army and leave as soon as they can . citation needed additional one offs for budget travelers included let s go the student guide to america citation needed and let s go caribbean . citation needed expansion edit in 1971 let s go became weary of self publishing i.e. cutting and pasting on oliver s living room floor and signed on with publisher e.p. dutton . at this time let s go s only title remained the original flagship let s go europe . the book s popularity however caused its staff to consider additional titles . the first permanent new guide let s go britain and ireland was published in 1976 . citation needed after excellent sales let s go france citation needed and let s go italy citation needed soon followed . all four were updated every year thereafter . indeed for much of its history let s go was the only travel guide to update each of its titles every single year . citation needed let s go continued expanding as it added further european titles as well as a new permanent book on domestic travel . in 1982 let s go signed a contract with new publisher st. martin s press to publish its roster of six titles . citation needed by 1985 let s go was publishing 10 books a year including let s go mexico the first new title not written from previously existing content . citation needed in 1986 440 000 copies of let s go books were printed and sold in dozens of countries within three months of being researched a new industry record . citation needed by the 1990s let s go branched out into city specific guidebooks allowing expansion to continue at a rate of multiple new guidebooks per year . around this time let s go earned some of its most famous monikers including the granddaddy of budget guides the new york times and the bible of the budget traveler the boston globe . 1 at 15 titles in 1992 the student run company emphasizing travel on a budget had become one of the largest travel guides in the world . citation needed digital era edit in 1996 let s go launched its website letsgo.com while publishing 22 titles and a new line of mini map guides . by this time let s go had branched out beyond just europe its traditional turf and north america to africa and asia as well . the company s first south american guide let s go ecuador and the galapagos came in 1997 as the 24th title . let s go australia and let s go new zealand followed the next year putting let s go on every continent but antarctica . citation needed into the 2000s the physical books evolved as well with updated covers new editorial features like a price diversity scale and photos in the guides for the first time . the company was still expanding at a breakneck speed from 30 titles in 2000 to 33 in 2001 37 in 2002 41 in 2003 45 in 2004 and 48 in 2005 . at this point let s go employed over 200 students every year . citation needed let s go also expanded its web presence dramatically in this decade . the company profited from strong online advertising and partnerships and gradually populated its website with blogs podcasts and videos . in 2008 a redesigned website was unveiled that made let s go the first travel guide to offer all of its book content online free of charge . let s go has also brought its content to smartphones and tablets as well since 2011 its guidebooks have also been available for download as e books and the company has released dozens of free destination specific mobile apps with more in the works . the let s go travel guides app has been rated as a must have brilliant app . 3 let s go also announced a new print publisher avalon travel 4 upon the expiration of its contract with st. martin s press in 2009 . 5 the switch led to a new format for the insides of the books new retro covers for the outsides and a rebranding to emphasize let s go s student origins . the theme has been changed in 1999 2002 2005 and 2009 . business model edit as a subsidiary of harvard student agencies let s go s charter states that the company may only employ degree seeking harvard students ; because of this let s go s business model is unique among publishers . every year a student management team is chosen from the previous year s staff . this core group works out of let s go s cambridge offices all year round on the company s website publicity and editorial matters . over the winter the management team hires a staff of research managers and editors who in turn hire the company s traveling researcher writers . research managers and editors work part time throughout the spring semester to prepare and train researcher writers for their trips . after the semester ends the researcher writers leave cambridge for their destination while the research managers and editors begin working full time at the cambridge office . researcher writers traveling alone typically spend from six to eight weeks of their summer june july on the road visiting the assigned establishments in their assigned cities and sending raw copy back to cambridge . in order to keep the writing true to the budget heritage of the series researcher writers are paid a daily stipend intended to cover only basic expenses although let s go does cover airfare to and from their destination . meanwhile research managers and editors work throughout the entire summer aiding the researcher writers for the first half and editing the copy in the second half . the guides are assembled from the edited copy in august and september and are released in bookstores the following winter just as the publishing process for the next year s guides has begun . citation needed editorial style edit let s go has used many words to describe the style of its content . witty and irreverent is possibly the most frequently used descriptor ; the company takes pride in its youthful casual sometimes zany tone and trains its writers to avoid brochure ese . let s go also promotes the unvarnished opinions of its reviews stating that they want the takeaway of every single listing good or bad to be clear to the reader . this honesty led to a lawsuit against let s go in 1990 as a result of a scathing review of an israeli hostel but the travel guide was victorious in court upheld by the judges as the modern equivalents of thomas paine or john peter zenger . 6 other traits the company has emphasized include its budget roots and social consciousness all let s go books include a beyond tourism chapter that lists volunteer study and work opportunities abroad many of which help give back to the destination . citation needed titles edit as of the 2016 series of guidebooks let s go has published 73 permanent titles covering six continents . the books range from country guides to adventure city budget and road trip guides many of which are still updated annually . let s go has also published 20 abridged pocket sized map guides amsterdam berlin boston chicago dublin florence hong kong london los angeles madrid new orleans new york city paris prague rome san francisco seattle sydney venice and washington dc though these have been discontinued . citation needed book type continent first published last published notes let s go ii the student guide to adventure adventure multiple 1968 1968 limited edition let s go alaska adventure guide adventure north america 2004 2004 let s go alaska & the pacific northwest country north america 1988 2003 split into let s go alaska adventure guide and let s go pacific northwest let s go amsterdam city europe 2002 2008 let s go budget amsterdam budget europe 2012 2012 let s go amsterdam & brussels city europe 2011 2011 let s go budget athens budget europe 2012 2012 let s go australia country australia 1998 2009 let s go austria & switzerland country europe 1994 2005 let s go barcelona city europe 2002 2010 let s go budget barcelona budget europe 2012 2012 let s go budget berlin budget europe 2012 2012 let s go berlin prague & budapest city europe 2010 2011 let s go boston city north america 2001 2011 let s go brazil country south america 2004 2004 let s go great britain country europe 1976 2011 originally called let s go britain & ireland open library 1999 let s go buenos aires city south america 2009 2010 let s go california country north america 1995 2005 open library 1999 let s go california & hawaii country north america 1988 1994 became let s go california let s go california & the pacific northwest country north america 1984 1987 split into let s go alaska & the pacific northwest and let s go california & hawaii let s go caribbean country north america 1970 1970 limited edition let s go central america country north america 1996 2010 let s go chile country south america 2003 2005 let s go china country asia 2000 2005 let s go