GUIDES DE VOYAGE ULYSSE INC.

What GUIDES DE VOYAGE ULYSSE INC. does

Guides de voyage Ulysse Inc. is a privately-held Canadian travel publishing company headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, founded in 1980. The company produces travel guidebooks, maps, atlases, and language phrasebooks covering destinations across Canada, the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania, delivered in physical (paper) and digital (PDF, ePub) formats. Its product portfolio is organized into multiple sub-brands including Fabuleux Guides (illustrated comprehensive guides), Itinéraires de rêve (dream itinerary series), 52 villes (city-focused guides), Le meilleur selon Ulysse (curated best-of collections), Guide de conversation (phrasebooks), and specialty lines for children, quick exploration, and short stopovers. The company also sells individual digital chapters, allowing granular purchases of guide sections.

The business operates a direct-to-consumer model through its own e-commerce platform (guidesulysse.com) with multi-zone billing in CAD and EUR, a physical retail bookstore (Librairie Ulysse Saint-Denis in Montreal), wholesale distribution to independent bookstores via a dedicated "Coin des Libraires" program, and digital downloads delivered globally with no shipping costs. An affiliate marketing program managed by Affiliation Focus generates incremental sales through partner websites at a 10% commission. Unit pricing ranges from approximately $5.95 to $39.95 CAD depending on title and format, with promotional bundle deals (3-for-2, 5-for-3) and a children/educational sub-brand extending the demographic reach.

The company is structured under two legal entities — Guides de voyage Ulysse inc. (Canada) and Les Guides de voyage Ulysse SARL (France) — supporting European administration and sales in France, Switzerland, Belgium, and Luxembourg alongside the Canadian and broader worldwide footprint. It is independently owned with no disclosed institutional investors, no acquisition activity, and a small headcount of 11-50 employees. The company has received acknowledged support from Sodec and the Government of Canada.

Name

GUIDES DE VOYAGE ULYSSE INC.

Legal name

Guides de voyage Ulysse inc.

Website

https://guidesulysse.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1980

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Guides de voyage Ulysse Inc. is a Montreal-based, privately-held Canadian travel publisher producing French-language guidebooks, maps, atlases, and phrasebooks in print and digital formats for individual travelers and bookstores across Canada, Europe, and worldwide markets.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Montréal

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Physical travel guides and books: Sale of printed travel guidebooks, phrasebooks, maps, and atlases covering destinations worldwide. Products available in paper format with varying price points.
2. Digital products (PDF/ePub): Digital versions of travel guides and books available for immediate download. Products sold as individual downloads with no physical shipping costs.
3. Affiliate commissions: Partnership with Affiliation Focus generates 10% commission on sales referred through affiliate partner websites and social media.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Guides de voyage Ulysse is a Montreal-based publisher that creates, produces, and sells French-language travel guidebooks, maps, atlases, and phrasebooks covering destinations worldwide. The company distributes its content in both physical (paper) and digital (PDF and ePub) formats through its own e-commerce website, a retail bookstore in Montreal, and wholesale distribution to independent bookstores.

Product overview

Guides de voyage Ulysse is a Canadian travel guide publisher offering a comprehensive portfolio of travel content across multiple formats (paper books, ePub and PDF digital downloads) and distribution models (full guides and individual chapters). The product portfolio includes: the flagship Fabuleux Guides series (comprehensive illustrated destination guides), the Itinéraires de rêve series (50 dream itinerary routes organized by theme), the 52 villes series (city-focused guides), Le meilleur selon Ulysse (curated best-of collections), and specialty guides including children's travel guides (Mon premier guide de voyage), language phrasebooks (Guide de conversation), and maps/atlases. The company also sells individual digital chapters allowing customers to purchase specific sections of guides. All products serve the travel and tourism market, providing expert destination knowledge, itineraries, and practical travel advice for destinations across Canada, the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Guides de voyage Ulysse (Papier) Physical travel guide books covering destinations worldwide, including comprehensive travel guides, region-specific books, and thematic guides available in paper format for French-speaking travelers.
• Guides de voyage Ulysse (Livres numériques ePub/PDF) Digital travel guide books in ePub and PDF formats for immediate download, covering the same destinations as paper guides with no shipping costs worldwide.
• Chapitres numériques Ulysse Individual digital chapters extracted from full travel guides, available in PDF and ePub formats, allowing purchase of specific sections rather than complete books.
• Fabuleux Guides Illustrated travel guide series featuring comprehensive destination coverage with photography, covering major world destinations.
• Itinéraires de rêve Ulysse Dream itinerary series featuring 50 suggested routes around the world, organized by region or theme with day-by-day itineraries.
• 52 villes City guide series featuring 52 cities organized by theme (weekend destinations, cultural cities, etc.) with detailed urban exploration content.
• Le meilleur selon Ulysse Best-of collection highlighting top destinations, parks, gardens, and experiences curated by Ulysse experts.
• Guide de conversation Ulysse Language phrasebook and conversation guides for travelers, covering essential words and expressions with phonetic indications for pronunciation.
• Cartes et atlas Maps and atlases including political world maps and regional cartographic products.
• Mon premier guide de voyage (Enfants) Children's travel guide series introducing young readers to world destinations through engaging, age-appropriate content.
• Explorez Ulysse Quick-exploration guide series providing concise overviews of popular destinations for short visits.
• Escale Ulysse Brief stopover guide series for travelers with limited time in major cities and cruise ports.

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Affiliation FocuscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorMontreal-based affiliate marketing partner that manages the Ulysse affiliate program. Partners receive 10% commission on all sales generated through referral links from their websites or Facebook pages to guidesulysse.com. Affiliation Focus provides tracking technology, dashboard access for statistics, and compatibility with computers, tablets, and mobile devices.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• DK Travel (Dorling Kindersley): Visual, illustrated travel guide publisher known for the Eyewitness Travel series, with strong photography-driven guidebooks. Closely comparable to Ulysse's Fabuleux Guides sub-brand, which similarly emphasizes rich illustrations and photography.
• Fodor's Travel: Travel content brand producing guidebooks, online destination content, and travel planning resources. Comparable to Ulysse in combining curated editorial travel content with destination coverage and trip planning utility.
• Rough Guides: Travel guide publisher producing printed and digital travel guides, phrasebooks, and maps. Comparable to Ulysse in product offering and target customer, primarily serving English-speaking markets.
• Lonely Planet: Global travel guide publisher producing guidebooks, phrasebooks, maps, and digital content across hundreds of destinations. Closest direct competitor to Ulysse in product format, distribution model, and traveler use case, though operating at much larger scale and primarily in English.
• Frommer's: Long-established travel guide publisher offering guidebooks and digital content across global destinations. Similar product positioning and traveler target customer, primarily English-language.
• Petit Futé: French-language travel guide publisher offering guidebooks across France and international destinations. Direct French-market competitor with overlapping product formats, similar scale, and same traveler demographic as Ulysse.
• Le Routard: Iconic French-language travel guide publisher with guidebooks covering worldwide destinations, plus an associated community of traveler reviews and recommendations. Direct competitor to Ulysse in the French-language travel guide market with overlapping product formats and customer base.

Broad incumbents

• Gallimard Tourisme: Travel publishing imprint of Éditions Gallimard, producing illustrated French-language travel guides including the GEO Guide collection. Competes with Ulysse's Fabuleux Guides in the French illustrated travel guide segment with greater editorial and distribution resources.
• National Geographic Traveler: Travel content brand producing guidebooks, magazine, and digital content for experiential and culturally curious travelers. Comparable to Ulysse in destination guide format and emphasis on photography-driven storytelling, but operates within a much broader media portfolio.
• Hachette Tourisme: Large French publishing house with a tourism/travel book division that publishes illustrated travel guides including the GEO Guide and Un Grand Week-end series. Overlaps with Ulysse's French-language travel guide category but operates at significantly larger scale within a broader publishing portfolio.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/guidesulysse
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/guidesulysse
• Facebookfacebook.com/pages/Guides-de-voyage-Ulysse/57438374290
• Instagraminstagram.com/guidesulysse
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/guides-de-voyage-ulysse

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about GUIDES DE VOYAGE ULYSSE INC.