Look at most bucket lists and you’ll see various travel destinations on them. Ask many people what they’d do if they had more money and they’ll choose more travel.
Canadians made 12.8 million trips overseas in 2017. Tourist guide apps make those travel plans much easier. People can plan their vacations, from hotels to transport.
They can work out what to visit in different cities. And a local tour guide app even provides advice on how to behave in certain places or situations.
Think of them as a guidebook accessible on a phone!
Are you wondering how to make a tourist guide app? Read on to find out!
1. What Features Will Your App Have?
We’re keeping this generic as we don’t know what platform you’ll use to build your app. But if you have no experience of app development, don’t worry.
You can always use an app creator to do it for you.
Travel planning is essential to a tourist app. Users can:
- search for local transport timetables
- create itineraries
- book accommodation
- store their travel e-tickets
Recommendations for places to go and things to see are also helpful. For example, you might choose to include a guide to Instagrammable places nearby.
Will your app give the local weather? Provide translations?
A map function is also critical. Adding integrations with Google or Facebook also gives plenty of additional information from their database. Which leads us to our next point.
2. Where Will You Find Content?
Content will make or break your app. You’ll need to decide where it will come from.
Will the content pull through from Google or review sites like TripAdvisor? And will images come from Flickr’s Creative Commons, stock image websites, or your own photography?
Knowing what content you need will help you plan where you might find it. If you’re making a local tourist guide app to support your business, you can write it yourself.
3. Will the App Only Provide Information?
Most tourist guide apps act like tourist guidebooks. But you can add a twist to yours by adding a ‘notes’ feature to create a travel journal app.
Users can add images, create entries, or upload other content to document their trip. If they can share these travel journals with others, you can build a community around your app.
When users upload their reviews or images, it also helps to overcome the issue of where to find content for your app.
4. What Will You Call Your Tourist Guide App?
It might seem strange to name the app last. But until you know what it will do and how it will work, you won’t know the best thing to call it.
Sure, you can’t use TripAdvisor. But keep it simple. Make it obvious what the app is for.
With any luck, you’ll end up like Uber and your app name will become a verb!
Final Words
A tourist guide app is a great way to share the joy of travel with like-minded people. It also helps take some of the worry out of traveling by making it easy to create plans.