News from Tourism Radio®

“Our team is always at the forefront of spotting gaps for innovative technology for the tourist market and we spotted a distinct gap in the market for offline maps with localised content when the traveller needs it most, without the need for international roaming or wifi connectivity.  With this week’s launch of the City Guides by Tourism Radio™ app, we aim to fill this niche.” 

So says Mark Allewell, CEO of Tourism Radio® and Hummba.com, which this month rolls out the dissemination of the City Guides by Tourism Radio® app individually packaged for, respectively, the Android and iTunes app stores.  “A really hot tip for insatiable ‘techie junkies’ who already do or are considering travelling to some 100 of the world’s sexiest destinations,” he adds, “is to go to either the Android or iTunes app store and search for Tourism Radio City Guides.”

The City Guides by Tourism Radio® app and Hummba.com share in common the functionality of downloading audio travel guides from internet-based app stores.  Where the applications differ is that Hummba.com comes with other features, such as the ability to create then share mobile and / or web-based content, play guides, share experiences (termed ‘routes footprints’) and images (termed ‘breadcrumbs’).

This homegrownMotherCityinnovation is initially being launched in the form of city audio guides toNew York,Cape Town, and Sitges, the latter guide of which is available in English, Catalan, and Spanish.  There are plans to launch over 100 further city guides in multiple languages during this coming month.

Tourism Radio®, with its over-arching location-based technology, branched into the mobile application Hummba.com (billed as “the travellers’ community”) and the technology is now in use with the City Guides by Tourism Radio®.

Tourism Radio® was founded inSouth Africain 2005 by Mark Allewell.  In 2006, the company was bought by a European venture capitalist and has since expanded to countries such as Spain, and New Zealand.

The same technology that saw Tourism Radio® serving a niche – a radio service that combines GPS technology with an on-board audio virtual tourist guide – has, in Allewell’s words, “mushroomed into these other products – well beyond my wildest dreams!”   

The Tourism Radio® device is inserted into a vehicle cigarette lighter.  The device then communicates with satellites which, in turn, locate the vehicle’s location.  Pre-recorded information of use to travellers is then broadcast via the device to the radio device.

With the inevitable advent of servicing the needs of ‘techie junkies’ through the mobile platform within the Tourism Radio® concept as a whole, the City Guides by Tourism Radio® provide, as with Tourism Radio®
in its original form, a F R E E on-board tourist guide that highlights points of interest and focuses on various routes of interest to the traveller. 

The ability to now create localised content takes the product to the next level.

Allewell concludes: “This is an exciting time for Tourism Radio.  With the launch of this latest mobile application, we are confident that our unique, high quality audio guides will further entrench our reach in terms of servicing travellers’ needs.”

Visit www.tourismradio.co.za.  Telephone +27 +21 +448 8411 or e-mail info@tourismradio.co.za.

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Mother City headquartered Tourism Radio® has a special affinity to Cape Town.  Not only did CEO Mark Allewell found the proudly homegrown company in his home town in 2005; 18 months later, Discovery Channel broadcast footage of Allewell’s ingenious invention, featuring key Mother City tourism attractions, which led to a German venture capitalist consortium snapping up the company. 

They have not been the only ones to notice that this company is going places: a groundswell of ever increasing support from Mother City tourism industry partners has helped the company expand to Spain and New Zealand.

Explains Allewell: “Global expansion plans for our comprehensive travel guides remain the prime goal for our consortium and this has been evidenced with new locations opening on a regular basis.  Aside from highlighting the best of what the Mother City and Western Cape province have to offer, we are looking at expanding across the rest ofSouth Africa.  Well researched, quality information is what we do so well.  Our listeners are visitors who are looking for places to spend their so-called ‘tourist dollar’ and with up to 15,000 fresh listeners each month, we consider ourselves as an on-board tour guide.  We are one of the most targeted mouthpieces for the tourism and hospitality industry.”

Allewell adds that the Tourism Radio® device is fitted at no cost to visitors hiring cars in Cape Town and its immediate surrounds from the following car rental companies:

• First Car Rental
• Hertz Car Rental
• Scenic Car Hire

Tourism Radio's® Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) driven information station aims to make travelling a more fulfilling experience for the self-drive tourist.  Its GPS technology transmits information about the driver’s surroundings as they travel through a particular Tourism Radio® zone.  Three types of information are aired, namely regional location content, informative radio shows, and a unique Intellipoint system that draws the driver’s attention to prominent landmarks via anecdotes and historical facts