Technological developments keep happening. The one industry that has used these developments in the best manner is probably the travel industry. Whether it is in the comforts provided by hotels or the ease of booking tickets, the industry has used technology to its benefit.
The one development that benefited the travel industry was the development of mobile apps. The industry took to mobile apps like a sponge to water. Every travel company has launched its own mobile app.
Thanks to the proliferation of smartphones and good internet connections, mobile apps are easy to use wherever you are.
Let us know what features make the mobile apps so popular with travelers.
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How Mobile Apps Help Tourists?
Certain features make the travel app very useful to the traveler. The fact that you can use a mobile app anywhere is the first advantage. You can personalize it very quickly. You can get notifications from the app about discounts and other offers.
You can integrate mobile apps with the smartphone’s features. It helps you in finding a place using the map. You can make payments very quickly with the apps.
You don’t have to carry cash or use your credit cards. There are in-app features that allow you to communicate with the travel agent.
Many other features make traveling easy with a mobile travel app on the smartphone. When the mobile app development company is building the app for you, you should insist on specific features that will make your travel app give a better user experience for the customers.
You can also analyze the best travel app in the market. It will set you on the path of greatness.
As the number of travel apps increases, each one is trying to be better than the other. It means that the developers are customizing these apps to match each type of traveler. You can feed many parameters like your budget, mean of transport, etc. to get the best plan. These apps will give you many options for your travel as per your requirement.
- Mobile apps help plan travel efficiently.
- Users can customize the app according to their liking.
- Mobile apps send notifications about discounts and other offers available.
- Making payments is comfortable with a mobile travel app. It prevents the need to carry cash or cards.
- In-app chat and talking facilities allow people to communicate with various persons involved in the travel arrangements.
- There are many mobile travel apps available that make travel very comfortable.
Mobile travel apps offer customized solutions based on your budget, route, means of transport, etc.
There are so many aspects that need to be taken care of when planning a trip. Your mobile travel app should ideally help tourists in all these matters.
Let us see the essential features that are necessary to make your app a better one.
1. Trip Planner
The trip planner is an important feature. It helps in creating a plan for the whole trip. When the user enters the locations, the planner will create a detailed plan. The tourists can add whatever locations they want to visit. The itinerary generator will create the most convenient procedure to visit all these places.
The feature allows users to add even locations that have no mention in the tourist guides. It means that they can customize the travel. With all the details that the users feed, the app creates the ideal travel plan.
It is not easy to incorporate this into the app. But this feature is available in some apps. It is very much needed when the traveler is planning a trip to locations where he or she is not aware of the transport facilities available.
2. Search Filter
You should include search filters that will help the traveler plan better. There must be search filters that will allow someone to search for beach or mountain destinations. That will make them decide the location faster.
You can also include filters by activities. Someone wants to trek or ski. Others may wish to undertake road trips. Your app should bring up results based on these searches. The more search filters you add, the more your app is going to be popular.
3. Geo Tracking
Integrating GPS is necessary for any travel app. People travel to destinations where they have never been before. The geo-tracking will help them find places of interest nearby. They don’t have to seek the help of anyone.
The feature will help in finding hotels, pubs, places of interest, etc. Even if one is not familiar with the language, he or she can find places with ease. Such features are beneficial to make people feel safe and not worry about losing their way.
4. Weather Information
It is essential to integrate this feature into your mobile travel app. Travelers often plan their trip without checking the weather conditions of the place. This feature will help them to know in advance about the weather at the destination.
Most of the time, people book their tickets much earlier than actually travel. It will help in saving a lot on travel fares. A weather forecasting feature will help the tourists to know what the weather will be like at the time of their travel.
Real-time weather information is also very much needed. The weather can change without any prior indication. If the data is available, people can plan accordingly. This feature will help in picking the kind of clothes they must carry.
5. Reviews
Your app should have a section where earlier travelers have left their reviews. It should also allow travelers to upload their reviews. It will help the users to find out more details about the place they are visiting.
There may be certain special conditions or requirements for visiting a tourist attraction. Most often, people who review the place mention it. It will give the users advanced information that will be useful for them.
The reviews will also help improve the publicity of your app. You can share the reviews on your social media platform. The features will assist hotels and other tourist businesses in improving their service.
6. Language Translator
It is a feature that people will be looking forward to. If you can incorporate this feature, it will help people in understanding many of the directions and signboards quickly without having to depend on a local guide.
There are many places in the world where some local people cheat tourists as they don’t know the language. This feature in your app can save tourists from this danger. You should get your mobile app development firm to integrate this feature into the app.
7. Currency Converter
It is another useful tool for travelers. They will need to exchange currency for use at local businesses. Using USD or Euro can become very expensive. Moreover, they will get the balance only in local currency. It is essential to know the correct currency exchange rate.
There are many apps that track the latest changes in currency rates. You can integrate any one of these apps into your mobile travel app. The users can save themselves from a lot of trouble if you include this feature.
8. Cab Booking
One of the most significant difficulties that people face when they travel is getting a cab to move from one place to another. In many places the local cabs fleece tourists. There is also the danger of being taken to the wrong destination.
If you can integrate a cab booking service with your travel app, this will help tourists to find reliable and safe transport at their destination.
It will help the tourists to book in advance and pay for the same through the app. There is no need to exchange cash or pay through other means.
9. Emergency Services
Emergencies can happen at any time, anywhere. The situation should not force the traveler to wonder where to find the local numbers. The top mobile app development companies in India must take care to include this feature in their travel apps.
10. Washroom Finder
Have you been on a long road trip? You must have undoubtedly experienced this problem. It is not easy knowing where the next washroom is going to be. Many people go through this situation in many countries. It is something travelers will surely like to find through their mobile apps.
You can integrate this facility into your app. Tourists will undoubtedly thank you for it. There are apps like Toilet Finder and SitOrSquat that help tourists find washrooms without trouble. These apps are top-rated not just among tourists but also among local people who are on the road.
11. Offline Access
Though most airports provide Wi-Fi connections, it is not always easy to get it working. If you land in a destination and there is no internet, your app becomes useless. Providing offline access will help people to use the app anywhere.
- Your trip planner must help tourists to make a detailed plan
- It should allow travelers to add locations that are not mentioned and create a customized plan.
- The app must have search filters based on activities, destinations, travel groups, etc.
- Geo-tracking is an essential feature. It will help people to go to destinations for the first time.
- Both advanced weather information and real-time information are necessary to make travel a pleasure.
- Allow travelers to leave reviews on the app. It will help other travelers.
- Language translator is a feature that will help tourists to read signboards and ask for directions.
- A currency converter can prevent tourists from getting cheated on exchange rates.
- In-app cab booking will help book cabs in advance and make local travel at the destination comfortable and safe.
- Providing emergency service numbers will help tourists in times of such situations.
- Finding washrooms on the road is difficult. Including the facility in the app will help people on road trips.
- You should be able to access the app, even where there is no internet.
Additional Features To Help The Users
There are many things you can include in a mobile travel app that will help tourists. With so many apps in the market, you should always find ways to make your app better than others. Only by doing this can you expect to make it accessible.
The app should have a database of as many tourist spots across the world as possible. It should suggest the tourist attractions in and around the place where the traveler is at any time. The app should also help the user to interact with travel communities to get more help about places to visit.
Apart from this, you can also provide travel tips in the app. These can be sent as push notifications once the traveler has booked all the tickets and hotel rooms. In these tips, you can include packing tips. You can also add things like what they need to carry when they visit a particular place.
There should be a direct link to the user’s social media account. It should help to take pictures from tourist spots and upload them to social media accounts. You can use these photos to publicize your app through your social media accounts.
- Have the most extensive database of tourist spots around the globe
- The app should be able to suggest tourist attractions at the travelers’ location
- The user must be able to interact with travel communities
- Send push notifications with travel tips like what to pack
- Give information about what the travelers should carry for each location
- Have a link to the user’s social media account to upload live photos from the trip
- These photos can help you publicize your app through your social media accounts
- Earning From Your App
- Unless your app lets you make it, there is no point in building one. There are many ways you can gain from a mobile travel app
Earning commission on hotel and flight bookings is one way to monetize your app. You will have to enter into agreements with these agencies. It is one of the best ways because the person who pays you commission is also getting revenue from this.
Another method that app developers use for monetization is in-app advertising. It can work after your app has become popular with travelers. Many agencies are involved in the travel industry. All these will benefit from advertising in your app while you make your money.
In-app purchase is another method of earning money from your app. You can sell many items related to travel. Travelers often buy many things required for the travel only once they have decided about the trip. If you are selling such issues, it will prove helpful to them. They don’t have to go searching for these items.
Final Thoughts
There are already many travel apps offering many features. But there is still scope for new travel apps. But the success of the app will depend on the kind of features that you provide through the app. You should do your mobile app development in such a way that it is also easy to use. The app should look attractive to users.
You must keep the app updated regularly. Nobody wants to have outdated hotel information. The weather forecasts should be accurate. You must ensure that you update the currency exchange rates daily.
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