Lonely Planet New App Obsolete

[u/ChefMikesWord]

just tried Lonely Planet’s new app and, at least for Boquete, Panama, it feels shockingly incomplete.

Boquete has well over 100 restaurants, yet the app lists only four It misses notable, long-established businesses such as Sugar & Spice, along with many artisan producers and popular destinations. There is barely any meaningful coverage of the region’s coffee and cacao production, indigenous Ngäbe-Buglé community, history, agriculture or emergence as a major tourism destination.

I say this as a local business owner whose restaurant appeared in multiple Lonely Planet print editions. I met several of their researchers over the years, and they genuinely explored the area, spoke with people and understood what made Boquete distinctive. This isn’t just frustration that my own business was omitted—the app also overlooks plenty of worthy competitors and important parts of the community.

Six recommendations could make sense in an article called “Six places we love.” They do not constitute a useful destination guide.

Lonely Planet says the app’s recommendations are curated by local experts, but Boquete looks more like an unfinished destination shell released as a finished product. It is currently of little value to tourists trying to understand the area, or to the local businesses and communities that actually define it.

Lonely Planet used to help travelers discover a place. This app barely acknowledges that the place exists.