With travel (and travel publishing) in a slump due to the recession, Lonely Planet is eliminating approximately 50 jobs worldwide, or about 10 percent of their workforce, with up to 40 of the layoffs in Australia. Spokesperson Adam Bennett says “it represents the decline of the guidebook market in tough times.” Some reductions will come through not renewing employment contracts, and others from direct layoffs. (There will be modest cuts in the UK and US offices as well.) Acting chief executive Stephen Palmer notes, “Even the most optimistic forecasts do not predict any sustained recovery until 2010 at the earliest, […]