The problem with most travel apps is that people generally don’t travel that often. That means that they will open the app just a couple of times a year when they actually travel. But what about all the rest of the time? Aspirational travel app TouristEye might have found a way to get users to keep using an app even when they’re not planning on going anywhere, with weekend getaway recommendations.
TouristEye has been around since 2010, believe it or not, but its latest app is a big step forward. The company has made an effort to boost engagement among its users with the addition of weekend getaway recommendations in a few markets, with plans to expand rapidly.
The app was built to allow users to create “wish lists” of travel destinations and experiences, which can be synced up and viewed even when offline. For travelers who wish to try out interesting new things to do, it allows them to take portable travel guides with them, without needing a Wi-Fi or mobile data connection. Travelers have really taken to the feature, creating more than 5 million wish lists since it was introduced.
That’s cool for when you’re actually in a totally different place traveling, but what about the majority of the time, when you’re living your normal life at home? For those times, TouristEye has been testing out a new feature that will provide recommendations for things to do nearby, essentially nudging you to actually do something.
In select cities like New York, San Francisco, Madrid and Barcelona, the app provides getaway recommendations for places nearby that users can visit. As a result, those users open up the app a whole lot more — 60 percent of users in those areas open the app on a weekly basis.
According to TouristEye co-founder Ariel Camus, the company plans to expand that functionality to a bunch of new cities in the near future, using a lot of the data that it’s collected over the years. Based on the more than 10,000 destinations that it’s collected, it can also look at how popular various getaway spots are as a way to find the best. It expects to have the feature available for 25 cities by the end of July and 100 cities by the end of August.
TouristEye has a team of 10 employees and is split between operations in the U.S. and Spain. The company was part of the 500 Startups Accelerator earlier this year and has raised $500,000 in seed funding from 500 Startups, Plug and Play and a bunch of European angels.