Touristlink.com the social marketplace for travel is now offering small travel providers the ability to promote their own tours and packages alongside their social profiles. Travelers tired of generic tour offerings can get unique trip ideas and offers direct from local providers as well as see reviews and recommendations of the same provider from other travelers.
(TRAVPR.COM) INDIA – June 20th, 2012 – Touristlink.com a social market place linking travelers with small local travel providers announces the launch of new features enabling providers to promote their own tours and packages alongside their social profiles. Travelers will now be able to see the details and unique offerings provided by each tour guide, travel agent or other travel providers and then interact directly with them if they want more information or are interested in customizing and creating their individualized experience.
Unique self created travel experiences are what travelers can get by connecting with the right knowledgeable locals on Touristlink. David Urmann the site founder commented “One thing we have noticed while interacting with members on Touristlink is that they both want something different then the generic tour offerings they find on the web and that they want more personal interaction especially when booking complex products like a multi-day trip.” The social nature of the Touristlink market place allows travelers to see the social profile of the provider and then directly interact.
The social profiles of providers are a key aspect as they contain personal information on the provider such as; interests, areas of expertise, languages spoken, preferred types of clients, pictures from past trips and more. Reviews and recommendations of providers are an important part of the Touristlink marketplace. This is a new feature on the site and Touristlink members will now also be able to review and recommend travel businesses so that other members can use this information to help them plan potential trips.
The founders of the site report they are seeing a steady increasing the number of daily signups from providers. This might not be a big surprise given that the site is a great tool for promoting a small travel business and is at the moment entirely free. One of the features of the social travel marketplace is that traveling members may add businesses members to their social network, providing invaluable marketing contacts and potential future clients. While travel providers can add deals for free Touristlink is also willing to share some guidance and marketing assistance to select providers by featuring their deals on the website provided it is a deal that will add value to the visitor and the provider has some type of promotional plan to make the deal a success.
Touristlink features one of the largest global travel guides on the internet with information on over 100,000 places of interest accompanied by 1,000,000 million plus photos. The founders at Touristlink indicate that the next step for the site is to show local providers alongside content. That means if you are browsing information on Pachmarhi a hill station in India you will also be able to see the locals providing services ranging from taxis, to home stays, to tour guides.
Touristlink lets you get to know firsthand the local behind the tour you are planning or the small hotel you want to stay. It’s a great resource whether you want to get off the beaten path or just want to plan your own trip. With over 5000 local experts it is perhaps the largest social marketplace connecting travelers and locals. Touristlink is managed by GotripIndia the developers of arrangeyourvacation.com and the parent company of hotelkhoj.com.