Sharing a short essay that arrived in my inbox today, courtesy of Dense Discovery — a newsletter about design, tech, sustainability and urbanism curated by Kai Brach, based in Melbourne, Australia.
Do we travel for transformation or validation?
It's always interesting to hear what thought leaders "outside" the travel industry have to say about the state of tourism, so I'm sharing Kai's article with his permission.
There's a few good points in this piece, including how touristic travel (e.g. mass tourism) can import more culture to a destination than it exports. I also agree that seeking validation on social media is drowning out good quality travel content.
There's some truth to Kai's point about escapism. Consider this: the biggest competitor to a travel agent is the electronics shop, where consumers can instead buy a new 50" flatscreen TV. In this scenario, which "escapism" is worse? Buying a new TV or booking a trip on a cruise ship? 😅
However, I don't believe that all trave...
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Hi Travel Massive folks,
I'm Rudi and I work for World Discovery, a multiday tour operator and travel agency.
We run a lot of self guided hiking tours and we're looking for a better way to give navigation to our clients for outdoor hikes.
Currently, we're using RidewithGPS, but we're finding that it's not suitable for our hiking tours.
I would be grateful for any solutions from Travel Massive members.
Thanks!
Heya. I feel like I just replied to the exact same question on the Tourpreneur group on Fb. I’ve used FATMAP in the past, it’s very detailed. (We had a partnership with them with both our companies). However I’m sure there are several other great tools!
Thanks Apoorva! We're looking deeper into Fatmap now.
Hi! For self-guided adventures and trip tracking I would highly recommend Wayward (www.wayward.travel). There's a mobile app for your clients and a suite of web tools for operators called Wayward for Business. Disclosure: I'm the founder of Wayward; we're an independent company that builds tools for the outdoor and travel industry. Wayward's been used in over 120 countries for everything from hiking tours to sailing trips. Let me know if you have any questions!
Komoot by far is the best
I previously developed an app for self-guided tours but realized that tourism companies and bloggers need a white-label interface that works as a web app. An app complicates usage and lowers sales conversion rates.
At Maslol, you can create your self-guided tours in a few simple steps. Additionally, we specialize in customizing content for independent travelers and can help you create the perfect independent experience for your travelers.
Maslol.io
Outdooractive I have used on own tours when navigating across the Balkans on unmarked trails (old shepherd's paths etc.) Map is excellent. See also www.wildwesternbalkans.com/mobile/de/
Looks great! Thanks Kirsi
I have used maps.me on many of the hikes and it works offline too if you download it beforehand, With elevation gains data and defined paths its perfect for hiking.
Thanks everyone for the help! We're diving deeper into Outdoor active and Fatmap as we speak :)
Great
Hi ! You can check my Telegram bot navigation solution. Thank you !
AllTrails
In the US I'd say Alltrails is the 'go to'