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Tony Wheeler

Co-founder of Lonely Planet guidebooks

Born 1946

Photo: Rico Shen · CC BY-SA 4.0

«All you've got to do is decide to go and the hardest part is over.»

Lonely Planet, Across Asia on the Cheap, 1973

Tony Wheeler and his wife Maureen drove from London to Australia in 1972 and wrote up the trip at their kitchen table. The resulting book started Lonely Planet, which became the largest independent travel publisher in the world.

Key achievements

  • Co-founded Lonely Planet in 1973 at a kitchen table
  • Built the world's largest independent travel publisher

Universities

  • University of WarwickGraduate1971–1972

    Coventry, West Midlands

    Took an MBA at Warwick Business School in 1972, shortly before setting off overland to Australia.

Facts

  • The first book, Across Asia on the Cheap, was stapled together by hand and sold 1,500 copies in a week.
  • They arrived in Australia with 27 cents between them, which is why they wrote the book in the first place.
  • Lonely Planet published guides to over 120 countries before the couple sold the company.

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