Attention is the bottleneck, and the idea that tourist guides are only a sub-part of fictional inspiration is a luxury that few can afford.
We cannot just dream when resources are limited; a guide provides the cost reality and transportation details, concrete information to make the trip possible.
Fiction can ignite a spark, but it is the guide that provides the action plan to turn that spark into a trip, especially when every dinar is counted and we need to ration our budget.
For example, even if the film Star Wars makes us dream of Matmata, it is the practical guide that will tell us how much a night in troglodyte dwellings costs and how to get there with local public transport.