National Geographic has announced that it is ceasing regular publication of National Geographic Adventure with the current December/January issue after 10 years of publishing the travel and outdoor adventure magazine.
The company had been in talks to sell the magazine, but potential buyers wanted a magazine with the name National Geographic Adventure, not just Adventure. The National Geographic Society was unwilling to allow their brand name to be used, according to John Q. Griffin, executive vice president and president of the magazine group at the National Geographic Society.
The company plans two Adventure newsstand-only issues, on topics that might include Adventurer of the Year or adventure travel, Griffin said. Seventeen employees, almost all of them in editorial, will be dismissed.
Contributing to the demise was a 44% decline (to 190) in ad pages in the first three quarters of 2009, compared to the same period in 2008. There are no plans to close National Geographic Traveler, despite the fact that its ad pages declined by nearly 40% in the same period.