5 travel apps & websites that bring responsible tourism alive

5 travel apps & websites that bring responsible tourism alive

Tripdvisor buys Tripbod responsible tourism mainstreaming

The news last week that Tripbod – which connects travellers to locals eager to share their knowledge of their home – has been bought by Tripadvisor is really exciting. It is a sign of responsible tourism maturing its communication. And a sign that the mainstream is listening.

In essence there are two approaches. One is typified by the endless roll call of carbon calculator apps, which focus on the idea that travel is inherently a damaging force and the best we can do as responsible tourists is to reduce our impact. The other – as espoused by Tripbod – aspires towards responsible travel as an opportunity to make tourism more engaging, connected, and to leave a more positive legacy behind.

Tripbod may be one of the first responsible travel apps and sites to gain such mainstream traction, however there are many others, and any responsible tourism business can benefit from seeing how they communicate to travellers, and perhaps adopt some of their techniques in their own hotel or tour operator websites. The following four apps and websites are some of my other current favourites to watch:

1) Vecotourism enhances photography to bring destinations alive

vecotourism innovative immersive photo video website promotes conservation

Click on one of the 360 degree photographs on Vecotourism (standing for virtual ecotourism) and you are transported to wild places such as the slopes of Rwanda’s Mount Karismibi and surrounded by gorillas. Combine this with voiceovers by authorities such as Ape Alliance founder Ian Redmond and lots of clickable points throughout the photographs that launch videos taking you deeper into the location and its stories, and you have an immersive experience that brings remote destinations much closer.

How other businesses could adapt: Plenty of scope to apply this technique – heritage properties could use to enable guests to explore their properties and their history. Ecolodges could transport people to a silent terrace overlooking the desert around them, and then use the videos to bring its sights and sounds alive.

2) Africam connects you to the natural world, wherever you are

Africam safari webcams promote anti-poaching messageAfricam enables viewers to log on and watch 24hr live webcams at watering holes in the African bush. Follow its twitter feed and you’ll be alerted when there’s a herd of elephants or other exciting viewing coming down for a drink. I generally have the webcam open in a separate tab while I am working, the sound of the bush filtering through my speakers, and when occasionally I hear some activity in the undergrowth, I just flick across to see what’s new. That alone makes the site a wonderful way of connecting me to the African wilds that I love, but the fact they frame their video screens with a simple anti-poaching message is a cogent reminder to all in safari that it is possible to give guests the beauty they desire, and also tell them what is really going on out there too.

How other businesses could adapt: Underwater webcams on reefs? At bird hides? Or simply reminding one of the pace of life on Tresco? The scope is endless, and a powerful way of not only introducing a place but also keeping visitors connected once they have gone home.

3) Packforapurpose enables travellers to give something back

Pack for A Purpose connects travellers to projects in destinations

For the traveller wanting to give something back, Pack for a Purpose offers a simple, effective, solution. Forget dubious voluntourism projects with questionable impacts on local communities. Rather got to the packforapurpose website, click on your chosen destination, find a participating lodge. Then read what local projects they support and exactly what they need at the moment, pack it in your suitcase and drop it off when on holiday.

How other businesses could adapt: Not only does this approach match needs with opportunities and connect travellers to projects, it also works as excellent marketing for any lodge featured on the site, which naturally benefits from the profile as well as the inbound links generated. Just last week I discovered a couple of places that I will visit on a trip next year because they were listed on Packforapurpose. Lodges could also develop their own schemes, rewarding visitors for bringing certain items out in their luggage.

4) Storymap turns maps into living story archives

Storymap uses video to bring tales of Dublin alive

Storymap enables prospective visitors to Dublin to click points on a map of the city and watch videos where locals recount stories about that place.. Described as ‘a vision of the city as lived, across nationalities, generations, and centuries’, the videos, which are professionally shot and edited by a pair of young Dublin-based filmmakers, brings alive this city of storytellers.

How other businesses could adapt: With potential to connect through mobile phone apps and other location-based devices, the scope for development in any region that is rich in stories (and where isn’t if you look?) is vast. Or you could encourage guests to upload their own stories to your social media accounts and help you build a map together.

What other travel apps and websites inspire you? Please share them below.

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Jeremy Smith is a writer, speaker and sustainable tourism consultant. He is co-founder of Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency, an initiative that supports tourism organisations in declaring a climate emergency and working together to reduce their carbon emissions in line with the Science Based Targets. He is the author of Transforming Travel - realising the potential of sustainable tourism (2018), and co-founder of Travindy.com, the travel industry sustainable tourism website news site. He consults widely on sustainable tourism strategy and communication, with recent clients including Bruges Ommeland, GSTC, English National Parks, Tripadvisor, the Travel Foundation, and the European Travel Commission. He is a member of Travalyst’s Independent Advisory Board and was a member of Rotterdam’s International Advisory Board in 2019, helping develop a new vision for the city’s tourism.

3 comments

  1. Sally B says:

    Great piece – many thanks for sharing. I love No2, and No3 reminds me of Stuff Your Rucksack, the brainchild of Hilary Bradt (Bradt guides founder) and Kate humble (her off the telly). What I love is the theme running through all of these – connecting visitors (or potential visitors) directly with the locale, creating transparency and cutting out the crap in the middle.

  2. Luigi Cappel says:

    I don’t very often see new and original apps and information in this segment of travel apps. I love it! You hooked me in with Tripbod. From an early age I was taught the difference between tourists and travelers. The tourist goes to the souvenir shops and key attractions and never meets the locals. The traveler might see the tourist destinations too, but through meeting locals and getting to know how they live and how they interact with the world, i.e. get immersed in their world. Storymap is awesome too. I spent a year in a start up that talked about doing this and in fairness did get started, but spent way too much time talking about it than building it. Location based tourism like that gets moving in my humble opinion where people love to tell stories about their own environment and share their culture and history. Where better to start than Dublin.

    Great story and picks thanks:)

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