Grant Thatcher said Hong Kong is an ideal base for publishing due to low taxation and other overheads

Imagine visiting a city with a resident in your pocket - that's what having a LUXE travel guide is like, according to publishing editor and founder Grant Thatcher, who runs the company from Hong Kong

"Hong Kong is a great place to publish out of, as printing costs are reasonable and shipping reliable. It's good in terms of ease of forming a business and low taxation, but mostly in terms of other overheads," said Mr Thatcher.

"We, like everyone else in Hong Kong, often flit into other countries for weekends and we were consistently underwhelmed by the bland choices offered in other travel guides. Everything was closed, or gone sharply downhill, or simply wasn't what we wanted. There was nothing filling the market of solvent people with style and flair and no time to make mistakes," said Mr Thatcher.

"Most travel guides are written by someone who has never even lived in the city, and commissioned by an editor who has never even visited," said Mr Thatcher. "LUXE has a minimum of 20 contributors per city. It is effectively written by a broad cross-section of residents and we check and edit their choices from an average 600 to 250 entries. It's like having a resident in your pocket, for the small price of HK$60 (US$7.50)."

LUXE is aimed at the 25-50 crowd, solvent, fun-loving, avid shoppers, eaters, spa-goers, people who can afford to splash out but love a bargain too.

Mr Thatcher said the appeal of LUXE is its tongue in cheek approach - "sassy, naughty but smack on the money and harsh when necessary. We're brutally frank, and sometimes, frankly, brutal."

"People usually want to get in to a country, have a fabulous time and get out. They need a guide that is updated regularly. LUXE makes choosing so much easier as you only get the very best," he added.

The first guide, LUXE Bangkok, was released in 2002 and since then guides have been published for Bali, Hong Kong, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Singapore. Guides for Shanghai and Beijing are due out in the autumn.

LUXE stockists are available in the US, Australia, UK, Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong.

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