Tours4Mobile Debuts Geo-Targeting Functionality In California Series of Walking Tour Apps for iOS and Android
LOS ANGELES, CA - Travel apps have become ubiquitous on smart phones, providing travelers with the power to book trips, track flights, find restaurants, and hail a ride right from the palm of their hand. While apps for airline reservations and booking accommodations lead the pack in sheer volume, walking tour apps are a growing and somewhat overlooked category. Offering suggested itineraries for virtually every city and popular tourist destination, these narrated tours typically include detailed maps, historical information, and lists of places of interest.
Among the earliest of entrants in the market is Tours4Mobile, an app available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. Since 2007 has regularly issued professionally curated multimedia digital tours and currently offers one of the largest inventories of titles covering over 200 destinations around the world.
Founded by Marie Profant, an entrepreneur active in the performing arts community in Santa Barbara, Calif., the company's affordable tours (prices range from $4.95 to $5.95), has been gaining traction against aps published by household travel brands and much larger competitors. Widely reviewed by the travel and tourism industry, Tours4Mobile apps have been recognized for their easy-to-use interface, high quality audio narration and, most importantly, their visual content.
Ms. Profant credits the success of Tours4Mobile to the quality of the multi-media nature of the tour content and the professional, down-to-earth spoken narration which accompany each tour.
“When we looked at other apps they were deficient in two important areas,” she stated. “Many were primarily audio without any photos along the way. We present images with every paragraph, so that you know what the narrator is talking about. Plus, with most walking tours, the guides were rarely travel writers or people with a deep, local understanding of the city or subject matter.”
Recently, the company began issuing tours with “location awareness”, ensuring that the user is seeing the appropriate content based on their specific GPS location. A series of tours for Los Angeles and San Francisco are the first Tours4Mobile apps featuring the new geo-targeting capability.
Boasting a wide variety of locations, with dozens of tours for leading tourist destinations such as New York, London, Chicago, Washington D.C., Sydney, Tokyo, Rome, Los Angeles, and other major cities, Tours4Mobile also features content of an historic and cultural nature in more esoteric locales on six continents, such as Rio, Johannesburg, Singapore, Prague, Quebec, and scores of others. Each tour is written by seasoned travel writers familiar with the subject matter, and narrated by professional voice-over artists.
According to Ms. Profant this both provides the traveler with the assurance of high quality content and has transformed Tours4Mobile into a “self-populating” platform for the global travel community.
“Our contributors participate in the revenue generated by downloads of Tours4Mobile tours which creates an online marketplace for travel knowledge,” she explains. “The reason we have an impressive roster of travel writers furnishing tours is because we serve as a direct connection between travel experts and the consumer. The accolades we routinely receive from our users and the travel industry prove to us that we have filled an unmet need with our approach.”
Ms. Profant cites travel writer and event promoter Brad Olsen as example of how tour content can reflect the knowledge and personality of the contributor. Mr. Olsen is the author of a dozen books and has written and narrated 30 Tours4Mobile guides, featuring destinations in California and around the globe, ranging from the well-travelled travel meccas to little-known points of interest.
"In today's fast-paced world, Tours4Mobile are perfect for people on the move,” Mr. Olsen stated. “All you need is a smart phone, tablet or computer to access a tour in the location you are visiting. With all the insider tips, it is as if a professional travel guide is there showing you where to go, what to do, making dining suggestions, and how to maximize your time seeing the sights. Tours4Mobile guides are ideal for pre-planning your trip, or when you're at your destination and need some salient travel tips and directions."
The Tours4Mobile apps can be downloaded from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store for $5.00 to $6.00. Guided tours in other formats are available at $4.95 to $19.95 at www.Tours4Mobile
Features of Tours4Mobile Apps:
• Geo-triggered audio, combined with synchronized images and text
• Easy to follow tour paths with directions on where to begin and end - users can stop and start their tour anywhere
• Tour Zones: fast map zoom and pan, providing an overview of the tour
• Visual Audio Zones: Indicates when audio will be activated - no guessing where and when audio will begin
• Directions: Real-time directions from current location to any POI (point of interest) in the tour
• Much less expensive than scheduled live tours. Download it now and use it anytime.
• No on-going commitment - no sign-up required and no subscription fees
• Offline interactive functions permitting pre-viewing tour in advance.
• No annoying ads.
About Tours4Mobile Based in Santa Barbara, Calif. Tours4Mobile. is the leading provider of curated multimedia travel tours authored by authoritative local guides located around the world. Available at the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, Tours4Mobile city and region-specific guided tours can be downloaded and saved on all popular mobile devices. Founded by Marie Profant in 2007, the company now offers over 200 tours with spoken word commentary, videos, photos and maps provided by dozens of travel writers and tour guide professionals. The Tours4Mobile series is edited by Gordon Burgett, a travel author with hundreds of articles and over 35 travel books to his credit. For more information, visit www.tours4mobile.com.
Media Contact: Marie Profant CEO Tours4Mobile 3905 State Street, # 7-128 Santa Barbara, CA 93105
Tel: (805) 705-9179 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.tours4mobile.com
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