The ever-expanding world of smartphones has given an exponential rise to the app world—short for applications. In short, the term “app” is nothing to be afraid of and is neither an incomprehensible feature for the average user. You can think of the phenomenon in the simplest term—apps are software programs for your phone.
Each of the three major smartphone platforms, of which include the iPhone, the Android Phones and the Blackberry have application technology built into the hardware of the device. The feature is an interface which allows the end user to browse and select applications from a never-ending list of possibilities—and many of the options are free. The most popular applications include programs which run GPS systems, weather updates, sports scores and organizational assistants in categories such as travel and time-productivity. But how can you harness the power of the app to assist your tourism goals? It all depends, but what follows is one excellent example.
Say that you’re promoting a tourism campaign tied to the great outdoors. And you want an activity or event that will draw a crowd to an entertaining adventure. Heard of geo-caching? It’s a craze that is sweeping the country—especially with the younger-aged set. Geo-caching is basically a GPS-enabled scavenger hunt, where participants utilize mapping and tracking to find pre-set containers with interesting objects. A logbook of visitors and an exchange of objects is typically part of the process. Families are finding this to be an exciting outdoor activity—especially at a time when it is harder and harder to get children to put down the video game controller.
Here’s where the app feature comes in—there are smartphone-based software applications such as Traxx, SCVGR and Gowalla, which outline the activity of geo-caching right to your handheld phone. This has led the undertaking right into the mainstream. The creation of a geo-caching event to draw in visitors to a specific outdoor location is only one example of how technology may be slowly changing the face of consumer interaction while utilizing a mobile-based environment.
With the myriad of apps available to download, there is no doubt that countless other visitor-based opportunities exist. What type of event-based ideas can you build around a specific app? Have an example or a great idea? Tell us about it!
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