Enhance your travel experience

Imagine plugging in your earphones and hearing what your eyes are seeing - every detail from its history, significance, uniqueness, etc. - as you stand in front of a certain attraction at any given time, anywhere in the world. This is a dream that location specialists Informap have achieved with the exclusive Dutch innovation, izi.TRAVEL.
The free-to-use open platform is a base created for publishers such as tourism bureaus, authorities in charge of attractions such as museums, and tour organisers to publish audio guides, while end-users such as tourists receive complete information about various landmarks, displays and sights for an enhanced travel experience.
"Our mobile app, which is available on Apple, Google Play and Windows Phone stores, was formulated to connect people from all over the globe to different cultures on a universal platform," says Ummer Sahib, Director of Informap and izi.TRAVEL. "The app has a special feature, the Autoplay mode, that utilises a sophisticated GPS tracking system to identify the users' location and time to automatically play the audio guide within that radius. Furthermore, visitors will also get notifications on nearby specialities to give them a wholesome experience."
Izi.TRAVEL also adds great convenience to tour operators. As audio guides take over regular narratives, tour operators can focus on becoming expert consultants to answer questions or provide additional information.
To date, izi.TRAVEL platform hosts over 7,000 audio guides in 90 countries and 51 languages across the world. Out of these, 1,800 are dedicated Museum tours. izi claims to be world's No.1 free audio guide platform with 3.5 million users and 16,000+ tour providers.
In the UAE, izi.TRAVEL is scheduled to release nine audio tours for Dubai featuring 89 attractions in English, Arabic, Russian and Mandarin. Among these are the Dubai Sightseeing Tour, Dubai Action Tour, Dubai Heritage Tour, Dubai Leisure Tour and Dubai Theme Park Tour. In addition, there are plans to release a guide centred on Asian and Middle Eastern cuisines, Fine Dining and Street Food - which truly define the UAE's multicultural diaspora.
Looking ahead, izi.TRAVEL is looking forward to produce audio tours for other emirates and promote Dubai Tours as flagship tours in the UAE, with an aim to produce walking tours in the near future. 
- farhana@khaleejtimes.com