Travel Infographics: the future to deliver travel and destination information to travellers?
Have you heard of “info graphics”? They seem to be very in and very trend at the moment. And the world of travel is proving to be no exception in adopting the use of them.
What is an “info graphic” you may be asking?
An info graphic is a visual way of sharing data. The theory is that people are more likely to look at it and digest it if it looks engaging and interesting. It is also a way of getting a lot of data and messages into one document – instead of number of pages or charts.
In the world of travel, they do seem to (so far) mostly begin used by travel providers and their support agencies as a selling aide for their services or expertise to travel agents or the media and bloggers to get a message across. They are often also used to communicate learning from studies or research, such as what are the most popular places to visit, how people are researching travel online and so on.
There do not (yet) seem to be that many that are designed to be for travellers as such. But they are starting to be used and I suspect they may be used more and more to share more data and information about their product or service, instead of brochures or leaflets. They can be shorter and more to the point and so it is one page of packed, but easy to digest information.
I think they are an interesting tool that will become very big and popular for some travellers. I think they will be used more and more to provide tips for travellers. I think that especially for those who have tight schedules and want to get the most out of the limited time they have in a place, that they could be great travel aides. As on one visual page they can show the best places to visit, what to expect and how to get there. They could be a great travel tool instead of printing off reams off the internet to buying guide books that you may not use again.
I have started to collect various travel infographics that I come across and post them on Pinterest: click here to see the album and follow it. If you come across any that you like, email me your suggestion. I also have links at end of post of some other sites that are collecting travel ones.
Here are two examples of tea that I think are interesting that I have come across and why:
Travelsupermrket.com: 50 Most Popular Travel Destinations.
Based on results for 2011 they are the most visited tourist attractions globally (with all the #1 being in the USA!) grouped into: Public Places (#1: Times Square); Heritage (#1: Union Station Washington); Amusement Parks (#1: Disney World Magic Kingdom Florida); Markets (#1: Faneuil Hall Market Place Boston); Seaside Attractions (#1: Pier 39 San Francisco); Natural (#1: Niagara Falls); Museums (#1: National Air and Space Museum Washington).
To read it better, click on the image and download!
Techie Traveller : The behaviour of today’s tech-based travel afficiando
This one is by Lab42, and I like this one as gives a great snapshot of what tech connected travellers are doing these days: showing the most popular online sites for doing bookings (expedia, travelocity), what Apps they using (flight and hotel deals) and how many do things like check hotel and destinations reviews (77% and 62%), use social networks before (Facebook) and during travels and what they do while travelling (photos, map features, restaurant searches) and after travelling (write reviews and post photos).
Some links:
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