Wikipedia may create its own travel guide that would compete with books such as Lonely Planet. According to Skift, the Wikimedia Foundation board of trustees discussed the possibility of a publicly-edited free travel guide service, and will decide the proposal's fate in six weeks time after a public consultation, although some suggest it is effectively already decided.
The currently-unnamed service was discussed on July 11, where 31 of the 48 administrators of Internet Brands-owned Wikitravel expressing an interest in the project. Wikivoyage also said it would join forces with Wikimedia, donating its URL, board, administrators and over 36,000 articles in German and Italian.
The fact that Wikimedia is now thinking about running a travel guide site could impact existing travel guide services, which might have to upgrade their standards in guide writing and article curation to successfully compete.
