Nowadays, everything is digital. Everyone wants to have a dedicated app to help in a particular situation. Using data transfer packages in EU countries, tourists can use the internet freely. Travelers can travel alone or in groups without a guide, as much of the work done by tour guides is now done through phones. From booking a hotel to ordering food and booking local commutes, virtually all of these operations can be done by any tourist over the phone. With the number of tourists increasing every year, travel apps have become a booming industry. Many dedicated apps have emerged that not only act as local tour guides, but are also a source of information and entertainment. An app for tourists now performs many, different roles and functions that only a few years ago could only be performed by local tour guides.

App for tourists

Tourist apps provide detailed information about a specific place, weather, most popular travel destinations, places to visit, restaurants, cafes, places to eat, popular regional and national cuisine.

Users are convinced that if they read articles and recommendations in a tourist app, they will already know everything and even more than they need. But that's not the case. The role of a tour guide is much bigger and broader in scope than what a tourist app can offer. Nowadays, the role of a local tour guide is not just about having knowledge, a tour guide's license and the ability to tell about contemporary and historical places and events.

The main role of a local tour guide is to present a story about the city, customs of its inhabitants, cultural differences, way of life, ways of spending free time. It is also a presentation of places less frequented, but also attractive and interesting. The role of a tour guide is to present an interesting, captivating story about places and their history, which is not found in guidebooks. It does not matter whether these guides are printed or electronic.

Tourist app, purpose

The primary purpose of creating an app for tourists is to provide up-to-date information about the city, region, and surrounding area. So, even if you are a first-time traveler in the city, with the help of a tourist app, you can experience more on your vacation. You can find interesting places, events by yourself.

App for tourists, value for tourists

The main value of the app for tourists is its timeliness. The timeliness of information about events in the city, about open exhibitions, places. Only a person who lives the city can create a valuable application for tourists. Any other application, created somewhere centrally, is burdened with errors resulting from lack of up-to-date information and lack of understanding of the place.

Up-to-date, reliable information about local exhibitions, cultural events, restaurants, hotels is very valuable and useful. Local businesses are important beneficiaries of tourist applications. Local restaurants, hotels and businesses. This allows them to advertise in the app. Redirecting tourists to a website where the user can see and compare hotels and restaurants. The tourist app is an effective and interesting place for local businesses to reach tourists.

A very important element of the app is its frequent updating. The app is updated because it needs to be valuable to users. Many new places tend to open and close, changing menus. The hours of operation of institutions change. The ratings and reviews they receive from customers change. Moreover, an up-to-date tourist app helps travelers find and reach new places that have yet to attract customers.

Features of an app for tourists

In a few paragraphs, we present the features and functions of an app for tourists. According to our experience, the descriptions provided are the foundation of any good and useful app.

Weather forecast: Since the tourist is new to the city, region. Information about the geography and weather forecast of that place is interesting and important. Therefore, an app for tourists must be updated and show the weather forecast so that the user knows at what time to expect a particular weather and how to dress. This is the first thing that the user also looks for before leaving on a trip.

Offline Navigation: Not all places visited by tourists may have adequate GSM signal. Many tourist places do not have proper connectivity and find it difficult to reach their destination. There should be an offline mode in the tourist app that allows smooth navigation and movement and travel of tourists without leaving them stranded in the middle of nowhere.

Transportation services: Tourists in a new country are skeptical about using private transportation or cabs. In many cases, learned from negative experience, this can prove to be costly. Moreover, awareness of transportation in a place is quite important for tourists. Therefore, relevant data about public and private transportation in the city, region and country should be available in the app.

Different way of getting around: The app for tourists has information about the location and route of walking paths. Many tourists like to walk rather than use transportation services. Transportation modes include buses, trains and cabs, bicycles. Their routes are included in the tourist app as the tourist will not be well versed with the local transport and its routes.

Multilingualism: Tourists travel to different parts of the world and there is no language that is common to all. Therefore, the first and the most important feature of a tourist app that should be paid special attention to is the language used. To make it easy for the users, the app must be able to publish information in a language that the tourist can understand. It is important that the app also includes the local language, as well as the languages most commonly spoken in different countries. An app for tourists in English, French, Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, German, Russian and Italian is a must.

Emergency contact: The app for tourists provides information about public services in the selected country. Contacts to use in case of emergency in case of emergency. Since each country has a separate emergency phone system emergency contact should be displayed on the homepage (landing page) so that the user does not have to scroll a lot to find it. This is one of the most important features of the app that should be included in it.

Easy search filter: The travel app is easy to use and provides filters for users so that they can fill their requirements. In this way, the search result is relevant. The result of the 'search' function does not contain wrong or useless records that the user does not want to see. Otherwise, a tourist may just lose interest while browsing the app and turn it off if he does not see what he wants to find.

Trip Planner: A tourist may want to visit many places that are in close proximity, but may not be aware of them. The trip planner feature allows tourists to enter details about the places they want to visit. The app itself generates the route, itinerary and suggests the journey, order of visiting the selected places. This will not only save time but also energy which would be a waste wandering alone.

Push notifications: Users use travel apps on cell phones during vacations. On computers when they plan a vacation. Push notifications work fine on the mobile app. Push notifications can be about discounts or offers to visit places where the user is staying or planning to stay. This helps travelers save a lot of money and travel to new and unfamiliar places more efficiently. For local businesses, push notifications, allow them to promote services.

GPS: One of the key features of travel apps is GPS. GPS helps to track the location of the app user and makes it easy to reach the destinations without any hassle. GPS also allows you to interact with other travelers by posting suggestions about local places and events. This is not only convenient but also helps a lot in saving time and effort.

Currency exchange rates: The currencies of countries are different and so are their exchange rates, which are constantly changing. That is why the city guide app has a feature that allows you to convert the currency. Checking the value of products and goods in terms of the tourist's currency.

Social Networking: The tourist app must be integrated with social media apps. At least with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. Social networking allows you to share your experiences with the community. Many people want to connect with friends and family and share stories about their vacations, places they visited, people they met. Share events with those who follow them on social media. The tourist app allows you to easily add a photo, add a comment, publish a post on your profile. Social networks are very important for local tour guides, it is through them that they mainly get new clients. It is for them that positive reviews of the services they provide are important.

Reviews and Feedback: Anything that is online works well and can work even better through customer feedback. A travel app includes a feedback sharing feature because it will help keep it relevant and attractive to more tourists and users in the long run. For more travelers, this is the most exciting part of the app. The fact that they can share their experiences and recommend places to other tourists. They can also leave a positive review about a local tour guide, someone who helped them learn about and familiarize themselves with local life and customs. An app for tourists is all the better the more comments it receives from its users.

Tour guide Database: The tourist app contains a database of tour guides. Local guides who offer their services to tourists. They are very often the most important ambassadors of cities, regions, countries. Many times tourists evaluate a city, a country through the prism of the quality of services they offer. Local tour guides are a very important part of the tourist app. Through the app, tourists can seamlessly contact the tour guide of their choice, avail their services, get help and advice.

Tourist app, summary

Tourist app is not only an information app, but also a source of great fun for users, who while using it will get used to the local life around them, learn local customs. Within a single app, users can find a hotel, directions to it, search for the best restaurant in town or important information a traveler is looking for. This not only makes it convenient, but also allows travelers to travel without unnecessary stress because they have everything in one place.

Local tour guides vs. tourist app

A dedicated app for tourists fills a niche. A niche that exists between tour guides and tour guide books, which were printed several years ago and may be outdated in many cases, and local tour guides ambassadors of cities.

In no way is the tourist app a competitor to local tour guides. It is a complement to them. No tourist app will ever replace contact with a live person, live words, emotions and stories. It cannot replace stories, emotions and experiences. A tourist app is an up-to-date version of a printed tour guide with additional features based on GPS, tour guide database. Nothing more.

Local tour guides are able to offer significantly more. In many cases it is a service for more demanding tourists.

Travel apps are personal guides and offer places to visit, the filtering and search function allows users to search for places according to their preferences, budgets, expectations. These apps work very well not only on the customer side, but also on the side of tourism companies, local businesses.