Social networks in tourism. Social networks of tourists Travel social network

At the present stage of development, the use of the capabilities of the Internet in the activities of the overwhelming majority of domestic enterprises has become an integral part of their effective functioning in the market.

Internet technologies have covered almost all levels of management of a modern enterprise, which in turn helps to reduce the duration of individual business process cycles and directly allows the company to meet the expectations of the enterprise in terms of economic benefits.

One of the sectors entrepreneurial activity where Internet technologies are most actively used is the tourism industry.

Modern Internet technologies have covered almost all areas of activity of tourism enterprises, since Internet marketing, electronic PR is constantly developing, the capabilities of websites are expanding and the forms of participation of enterprises in Internet exhibitions are improving. However, the use of modern tools of Internet technologies is not limited to the development and implementation of a functional website, since the constant development of this type of information technology makes it possible to update the activities of a tourism enterprise based on advanced technologies.

Internet marketing technologies are gaining special development as one of the types of communication with consumers. Hence, we can assert that one of the priority areas of modern Internet marketing is the registration of a profile of a travel company in social networks.

http://twitter.com - 48.7

http://www.facebook.com - 90.8

http://www.myspace.com - 19.6

http://my.mail.ru - 51.1

http://vk.com - 94.6

http://odnoklassniki.ru - 62.9

The development of social networks in recent years has been quite accelerated and has caused the emergence of a large number of social networks - analogues. However, despite this, there are social networks that unite many millions and even billions of users around the world. Such leaders are facebook.com, vk.com, odnoklasniki.ru.

All users have the ability to exchange information regardless of their location, the only necessary condition is the availability of access to the Internet.

According to this, tourism enterprises should target a wide audience of consumers in order to ensure a constant demand for their own tourism products, therefore it is advisable to create profiles of tourism enterprises in the above-mentioned social networks. However, the presence of a profile of a tourist company in a certain social network is only the first step towards the effective use of this tool of Internet technologies.

№ event title Possible benefits
1. Registration of a tourism company profile Additional marketing influence on a wide range of potential consumers
2. Uploading photo and video materials about travel products Encouraging consumers to purchase certain travel products by posting reliable and interesting multimedia materials and, accordingly, stimulating sales
3. Newsletter about last minute tours or promotions Stimulating sales of last minute tours and promotional offers by posting information available to all users of the social network
4. Consulting Consulting consumers on specific issues by conducting correspondence in real time, or providing a response to left messages
5. Creation of thematic groups Formation of a page on a social network, separate from the profile, dedicated to a specific topic (separate tourist destination, destination, etc.)
6. Formation of topics for discussion within a separate group An information block with which users can exchange information in the form of a question-answer or just a discussion. The main feature is that absolutely all users of this group have the opportunity to participate in the discussion and read previous messages
7. Posting consumer reviews on the profile wall Forms a positive image of a travel company based on the reviews that were left by consumers that they used the services of this travel company

The list of activities is relevant for use by tourist enterprises, since registration in the social network and the implementation of all of the above activities is absolutely free.

The creation of a profile on a social network is a certain prototype of the website of a tourism company, however, this profile does not require periodic maintenance and significant costs, since the updating and updating of information can be carried out by one performer.

The presence of a profile of a tourist company in a certain social network does not reduce the need to develop and implement its own website, since it is the latter that is the primary source of obtaining the necessary information for the consumer.

Hello everyone! I bring to your attention my author's selection of useful services for travelers. Most of the sites and applications from this list have been tested by us personally, something else is still waiting in line, but it doesn't get any less cool. Of course, the list goes on forever, but in my opinion, below is a solid base for bright, strong, inexpensive and enjoyable travel.

Preparing for the trip

Buses in Europe

15. . International bus lines that carry connections between 21 countries and 205 cities in Europe. It is the largest and oldest carrier in Eastern Europe. For independent European trips, Ecolines is ideal because the flights are very inexpensive and the buses are comfortable. In addition, Ecolines has a cumulative bonus system, and with active travel, you can receive free trips. This is more than real! Personally, over three trips, I have accumulated bonuses for one practically free move.

16. . Another European carrier that boggles the mind with constant promotions and discounts on tickets. For example, you can very often leave St. Petersburg for Helsinki and Tallinn for 400-500 rubles. The number of routes for Lukexpress is significantly less than that of Ecolines - only 10 countries, but the prices are sometimes just symbolic, and the buses are more like business class planes.

Train tickets

17. Once upon a time it became a discovery for me, and then a constant practice of buying train tickets online. As it turned out, this can be easily done on the site. Yes, the interface is not the most convenient in the world, but it is a million times more pleasant than standing in endless lines at the checkout. E-ticket printed and presented when boarding the car. It's simple, fast, and also allows you to choose flights and seats in the car yourself. By the way, today Russian Railways carries out 100 international routes in 30 countries of Europe and Asia.

eighteen. . A search engine for air and railway tickets in Russia. Convenient, first of all, with a complete and up-to-date commuter train schedule.

19. . Service that combines cards, schedules and tariffs of more than 50 different railway companies throughout Europe. It is easy to book tickets for trains, hotels and tourist programs... From the funny one on the site there is an encyclopedia of European trains, which explains how they differ from each other and how to spend time on the journey interestingly. Discounts are provided for those traveling with a large company - both on trains and in cities.

Cruises and sea travel

twenty. . A site where you can choose and book a sea or river cruise around the world. The service unites all the largest world and Russian cruise companies, informs about special offers and discounts.

Car rent

21.. Runet leader site for car rental abroad. Reservations are possible in more than 800 car rental companies in 150 countries around the world. 20 thousand car rental points, Russian-speaking support service, low prices and high quality services has made this service the absolute market leader.

Transfer

22.. If you do not want to rent a car, but also public transport you are not satisfied, you can pre-order a suitable transfer from point A to point B. How does it work? You find desired route in cities and resorts around the world, make an online transfer booking, the driver will meet you with a name on a plate and take you to the place. The service operates in 65 countries around the world.

23.. An internationally popular service for ordering a driver and finding passengers. Convenient mobile app allows you to search for, call and pay for taxis or private drivers. The application is available for dozens of cities around the world, including Russia. Using the Uber application, the customer reserves a car with a driver and tracks its movement to the specified point, payment is made using bank card details.

Search for travel companions

24.. Another world leader. A service that brings together drivers and fellow travelers around the world. Just enter the city of departure, arrival and date to see a list of drivers who offer trips along your route and choose yours. Before contacting, you can see the driver's profile with a photo, brief information about yourself and reviews. The service itself is free, but drivers usually charge for gas. Is not !

25.. The site was created in order to make it possible to find a travel companion on vacation or on any other journey, from a trip to a neighboring city and ending with a hitchhiking around the world.

Accommodation

26. The notorious site, which contains ads from individuals - the owners of apartments and houses. Today it is so popular that I will not even recommend any analogue, because I think that all the landlords already have pages on airbnb, even if they previously preferred some other resource. I have written two whole articles about this site. This is a really cool resource for finding great apartments overseas.

27.. The world's largest site for finding and booking hotels and hostels. A huge database of options, honest reviews, good prices, excellent support - this is why so many people choose it. This site is good if you are planning a trip to Europe, North and Latin America, Australia.

28. If you want to find a good accommodation option on the territory of the former USSR, a search engine is beyond competition here.

29. For Asia, it is best to look for hotels on.

30. The site contains an excellent database of hostels.

31.. House exchange. The database contains more than 65 thousand real houses in 150 countries of the world. If you own your own home, you can exchange your homes with property owners in another country for the duration of your vacation. The service has existed since 1992 - it all started with a book directory of people wishing to exchange houses.

32. Well, and, of course, adored by all travelers (and by us too). A site where you can find housing and a great company in an unfamiliar city for free.

Online travel agencies

33. One of the most reliable services for finding travel deals, buying airline tickets, booking hotels and renting cars. The site works with hundreds of sites travel companies and airlines around the world and selects the best deals for clients. In doing so, Kayak redirects directly to the booking pages of the service providers

34.. Roughly the same as Kayak. However, there are only flights and hotels. Has a cool bonus program... For me, the site is not much different from others in the search engine for tickets, but the number of friends who are ardent adherents of this site is so great that a place in this list was provided for him.

35.. An international travel site that allows you to quickly and easily organize your trip yourself. On it you can find a whole set of free tools for competently searching for cheap flights, hotels and accommodation for rent, as well as cars for rent.

36.. Russian analogue of the above sites. Winner of numerous travel awards in the field of online services. Worthy of attention.

Organized tours

37.. If you need organized tour, a independent travel tired of the end, the best way to find a great tour is with the Level Travel tour search engine. The service searches all leading tour operators and allows you to book tours directly with them, without the participation of travel agencies. Those. you will not see any extra charges, and the tour will cost as much as the operator. Too cool to be true, but this is not a dream))

38. Online hypermarket of tours. The best prices from 120 reliable tour operators.

City maps

39.. Free application for phones on all platforms. We only use these cards, and they are amazing! After installing the application, you need to download the map of the country that you need, and then the map with all the signs, attractions, hotels, hostels, restaurants will work offline! If your phone supports GPS, then when you combine it with maps.me you can forget about awkward conversations in crooked French / Chinese / Portuguese trying to figure out exactly where to get off the bus and how to find a museum.

Interpreter

40. Google translate as an app for or help you find mutual language with foreigners without any problems. More than 90 languages ​​are supported offline, although you need to download the necessary language packs in advance. This translator has saved us more than once, but, of course, the translation of phrases is far from always perfect.

Leisure and entertainment

41.. Geocaching is a worldwide travel game that focuses on hiding and searching for treasures. Geocaching has been around for 15 years and brings together more than 6 million people from all over the world. Today, 2.5 million caches are hidden in 200 countries around the world, and their number is growing every day. It's a great way to have fun, find unusual places new city, and meet curious people.

42.. A service that contains a large and high-quality, and most importantly, a free collection of audio guides to cities and museums. Before the trip, you can install the izi.travel application on your smartphone and enjoy excursions from professional guides, as well as amateurs. Some content on the site is paid.

43.. A site designed for booking Russian-language excursions around the world. Today it offers 4088 excursions in 566 cities around the world.

44.. "Own people around the world." The service implements two large projects: unique excursions from local residents and the international travel community, which is presented in the form of a giant forum with questions and answers about any city on the planet. If you are completely unsure of what to do in the city, post a question on this forum and get recommendations from the locals.

45.. A website that creates for you an individual guide to the most interesting places the selected city. You choose interesting sights, and the service creates a detailed guide with maps and descriptions, which you can print or download to your mobile device and use offline. And it's all free!

Free travel software

46.. Leading site in the search for volunteer work abroad. Volunteering means an extremely wide range of tasks: from teaching English (for example) to building a farm, from working in a hostel to caring for the elderly. As a "salary" for their work, volunteers receive housing, food, interesting communication, immersion in the culture of the country, and often other bonuses (discounts on excursions, participation in master classes, etc.) Transport must be paid for independently.

47. European Volunteer Service. EVS has dozens of programs lasting from 2 to 12 months. All of them are funded by the European Commission, and the programs can be both inside and outside the European Union. These projects, as a rule, have a social focus and are designed for young people between the ages of 18 and 30. The candidate is required to have certain skills, the level of a foreign language, and sometimes the presence of a special education. The European Commission, in turn, covers the costs of accommodation, food, transport, insurance, daily expenses, training cycle, including language courses and 90% of the cost of the flight.

48.. STP are study visits to Poland for students, young specialists and professionals from Eastern Europe (North-West region of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova). The program is divided into two large blocks - for students (from 18 to 21 years old) and for workers (no age limit). The trip is completely free: participants are paid for travel, accommodation, meals, all activities during the visit, as well as visa processing.

Other

49.. If you are planning a hitchhiking trip for the first time, this tutorial has absolutely everything.

50. . A project that aims to create a free, free, up-to-date and reliable worldwide travel guide. Currently, there are 1,657 travel guides in Russian and other articles written and edited by wikitravellers from all over the world.

And the bonus, final link is. A site that contains sooooo many (more than three hundred!) Various travel resources: top LJ, sites, VKontakte communities, independent blogs, magazines, TV channels, TV programs, hotel search engines, maps, forums, train tickets, language tourism, exotic tourism, extreme tourism, visas, rental housing, travel guides, tour operators, cruises, diving, car rental, airline tickets, insurance, youtube travel channels, travel blogs on instagram.

Friends, I understand perfectly well that all the cool services did not fit into this post! Therefore, this topic will be continued. Please share in the comments really useful, high-quality and interesting sites / applications / online companies / programs for travelers. I'll definitely include your cool links in the next article!

Hope you found something useful here!

P.S. By the way, all blog subscribers receive from our partners.

Not well-known, but very useful travel sites. Most of the travel sites and apps on this list have been personally tested by us, something else is still waiting in line, but it doesn't get any less cool.

List: Travel Sites: Travel Preparation

Travel Websites: Buying Tickets for Buses in Europe

Ecolines. International bus lines that carry connections between 21 countries and 205 cities in Europe. It is the largest and oldest carrier in Eastern Europe. For independent European trips, Ecolines is ideal because the flights are very inexpensive and the buses are comfortable. In addition, Ecolines has a cumulative bonus system, and with active travel, you can receive free trips. This is more than real! Personally, over three trips, I have accumulated bonuses for one practically free move.

Luxexpress. Another European carrier that boggles the mind with constant promotions and discounts on tickets. For example, you can very often leave St. Petersburg for Helsinki and Tallinn for 400-500 rubles. The number of routes for Lukexpress is significantly less than that of Ecolines - only 10 countries, but the prices are sometimes just symbolic, and the buses are more like business class planes.

Sites to buy train tickets online

Once it became a discovery for me, and then it became a constant practice to buy train tickets online. As it turned out, this can be easily done on the Russian Railways website. Yes, the interface is not the most convenient in the world, but it is a million times more pleasant than standing in endless lines at the checkout. The e-ticket is printed and presented upon boarding the car. It's simple, fast, and also allows you to choose flights and seats in the car yourself. By the way, today Russian Railways operates 100 international routes in 30 countries in Europe and Asia.

Tutu.ru. A search engine for air and railway tickets in Russia. Convenient, first of all, with a complete and up-to-date commuter train schedule.

Raileurope. A service that brings together maps, timetables and tariffs from more than 50 different railway companies throughout Europe. It is easy to book train tickets, hotels and travel programs on the site. From the funny one on the site there is an encyclopedia of European trains, which explains how they differ from each other and how to spend time on the journey interestingly. Discounts are provided for those traveling with a large company - both on trains and in cities.

Websites for booking cruises and sea travel

Mcruises. A site where you can choose and book a sea or river cruise around the world. The service unites all the largest world and Russian cruise companies, informs about special offers and discounts.

Car rental for travel

Runet leader site for car rental abroad. Reservations are possible in more than 800 car rental companies in 150 countries around the world. 20 thousand car rental points, Russian-speaking support service, low prices and high quality services have made this service the absolute market leader.

Transfer and so on for travel

Kiwitaxi. If you do not want to rent a car, but public transport does not suit you either, you can pre-order a suitable transfer from point A to point B. How does it work? You find the desired route in cities and resorts all over the world, book a transfer online, the driver will meet you with a name on a plate and take you to the place. The service operates in 65 countries around the world.

Uber. An internationally popular service for ordering a driver and finding passengers. A convenient mobile application allows you to search, call and pay for taxis or private drivers. The application is available for dozens of cities around the world, including Russia. Using the Uber application, the customer reserves a car with a driver and tracks its movement to the specified point, payment is made using bank card details.

Sites for finding fellow travelers

Blablacar. Another world leader. A service that brings together drivers and fellow travelers around the world. Just enter the city of departure, arrival and date to see a list of drivers who offer trips along your route and choose yours. Before contacting, you can see the driver's profile with a photo, brief information about yourself and reviews. The service itself is free, but drivers usually charge for gas. This is not hitchhiking!

Poiskpoputchikov.ru. The site was created in order to make it possible to find a travel companion on vacation or on any other journey, from a trip to a neighboring city and ending with a hitchhiking around the world.

Travel sites where you can book Accommodation, Hotels, Hostels

The notorious site, which contains ads from individuals - the owners of apartments and houses. Today it is so popular that I will not even recommend any analogue, because I think that all landlords already have pages on, even if they previously preferred some other resource. I have written two whole articles about this site. This is a really cool resource for finding great apartments overseas.

Booking.com. The world's largest site for finding and booking hotels and hostels. A huge database of options, honest reviews, good prices, excellent support - this is why so many people choose booking. This site is good if you are planning a trip to Europe, North and Latin America, Australia.

If you want to find a good accommodation option on the territory of the former USSR, the search engine Ostrovok.ru is beyond competition.

For Asia, the best place to look for hotels is Agoda.com.

There is a great hostel database at Hostelworld.com.

Home Exchange. House exchange. The database contains more than 65 thousand real houses in 150 countries of the world. If you own your own home, you can exchange your homes with property owners in another country for the duration of your vacation. The service has existed since 1992 - it all started with a book directory of people wishing to exchange houses.

Well, and, of course, the adored by all travelers (and us too) Couchsurfing.com. A site where you can find housing and a great company in an unfamiliar city for free.

Websites for buying air tickets online

ayak One of the most reliable services for finding travel deals, buying airline tickets, booking hotels and renting cars. The site works with hundreds of websites of travel companies and airlines around the world and selects the most profitable deals for clients. In doing so, Kayak redirects directly to the booking pages of the service providers

Onetwotrip. Roughly the same as Kayak. However, there are only flights and hotels. Has a cool bonus program. For me, the site is not much different from others in the search engine for tickets, but the number of friends who are ardent adherents of this site is so great that a place in this list was provided for him.

Momondo. An international travel site that allows you to quickly and easily organize your trip yourself. On it you can find a whole set of free tools for competently searching for cheap flights, hotels and accommodation for rent, as well as cars for rent.

Anywayanyday. Russian analogue of the above sites. Winner of numerous travel awards in the field of online services. Worthy of attention.

Sites for buying tours online

Level Travel. If you need an organized tour and are tired of independent travel at the end, then the best way to find a great tour is the Level Travel tour search engine. The service searches all leading tour operators and allows you to book tours directly with them, without the participation of travel agencies. Those. you will not see any extra charges, and the tour will cost as much as the operator. Too cool to be true, but this is not a dream))

Online hypermarket of tours. The best prices from 120 reliable tour operators.

List of Websites for Travelers: City Maps

Maps.me. Free application for phones on all platforms. We only use these cards, and they are amazing! After installing the application, you need to download the map of the country that you need, and then the map with all the signs, attractions, hotels, hostels, restaurants will work offline! If your phone supports GPS, then when you combine it with maps.me you can forget about awkward conversations in crooked French / Chinese / Portuguese trying to figure out exactly where to get off the bus and how to find a museum.

Travel translators

Google translator in the form of an application for Android or iPhone will help you find a common language with foreigners without any problems. More than 90 languages ​​are supported offline, although you need to download the necessary language packs in advance. This translator has saved us more than once, but, of course, the translation of phrases is far from always perfect.

Travel Websites: Leisure & Entertainment

Geocaching. is a worldwide travel game, the essence of which is to hide and search for treasures. Geocaching has been around for 15 years and brings together more than 6 million people from all over the world. Today, 2.5 million caches are hidden in 200 countries around the world, and their number is growing every day. This is a great way to have fun, find unusual places in a new city, and meet curious people.

Izi travel. A service that contains a large and high-quality, and most importantly, a free collection of audio guides to cities and museums. Before the trip, you can install the izi.travel application on your smartphone and enjoy excursions from professional guides, as well as amateurs. Some content on the site is paid.

A site designed for booking Russian-language excursions around the world. Today it offers 4088 excursions in 566 cities around the world.

Tripster. "Own people around the world." The service implements two large projects: unique excursions from local residents and the international travel community, which is presented in the form of a giant forum with questions and answers about any city on the planet. If you are completely unsure of what to do in the city, post a question on this forum and get recommendations from the locals.

Stay.com. A site that creates for you an individual guide to the most interesting places in the selected city. You choose interesting sights, and the service creates a detailed guide with maps and descriptions, which you can print or download to your mobile device and use offline. And it's all free!

Free Travel Sites

Workaway. Leading site in the search for volunteer work abroad. Volunteering means an extremely wide range of tasks: from teaching English (for example) to building a farm, from working in a hostel to caring for the elderly. As a "salary" for their work, volunteers receive housing, food, interesting communication, immersion in the culture of the country, and often other bonuses (discounts on excursions, participation in master classes, etc.) Transport must be paid for independently.

European Voluntary Service. European Volunteer Service. EVS has dozens of programs lasting from 2 to 12 months. All of them are funded by the European Commission, and the programs can be both inside and outside the European Union. These projects, as a rule, have a social focus and are designed for young people between the ages of 18 and 30. The candidate is required to have certain skills, the level of a foreign language, and sometimes the presence of a special education. The European Commission, in turn, covers the costs of accommodation, food, transport, insurance, daily expenses, training cycle, including language courses and 90% of the cost of the flight.

Study tours to Poland. STP are study visits to Poland for students, young specialists and professionals from Eastern Europe (North-West region of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova). The program is divided into two large blocks - for students (from 18 to 21 years old) and for workers (no age limit). The trip is completely free: participants are paid for travel, accommodation, meals, all activities during the visit, as well as visa processing.

Travel Sites: Other

Wikibooks for Hitchhiking. If you are planning a hitchhiking trip for the first time, this tutorial has absolutely everything.

Wikitravel. A project that aims to create a free, free, up-to-date and reliable worldwide travel guide. Currently, there are 1,657 travel guides in Russian and other articles written and edited by wikitravellers from all over the world.

And the bonus, final link - Travelzakladka. A site that contains sooooo many (more than three hundred!) Various travel resources: top LJ, sites, VKontakte communities, independent blogs, magazines, TV channels, TV programs, hotel search engines, maps, forums, train tickets, language tourism, exotic tourism, extreme tourism, visas, travel guides, tour operators, cruises, diving, car rental, air tickets, insurance, youtube travel channels, travel blogs on instagram.

  • Sergey Dolya is one of the most interesting people, who has long been loved by amateurs virtual travel... On the main page there is a list of visited countries with reports.
  • Ilya Varlamov - has an original hairstyle and the same approach to writing reports on visited countries. The blog consists of different sections, including criticism of Russian cities, visits to other countries and some interesting notes about urbanization.
  • Alexander Cheban - on account of more than 55 visited countries.
  • Sergey Vitko is a traveler who never plans which country he will fly to next and what he will write about it.
  • Eduard Gawayler is our compatriot who now lives in Germany. Often visits small European cities.
  • Alexander Belenky is a relatively young blogger (since 2011). Publishes reports on travel, countries and cities.
  • Artur Shigapov - writes posts about residents of different countries. Interesting notes, easy to read, no analytical articles or politics.
  • Kitya Karlson - Lives in Japan but travels around the world. His blog is about the common things that happen among us.
  • Petr Lovygin is an artist who prepares his travel reports in an original way.
  • Fyodor Konyukhov is a traveling priest, the most famous bearded man of the Russian land.
  • Olga Kostyuk is a girl who has visited many Asian countries, including India.
  • Elena Bass - writes about Italy and European cities. He moonlights as a guide.
  • Paul - lives in Germany. He writes mainly about European cities.
  • Julia Buruleva is a traveler, photographer, party organizer.
  • kuzulka - amazing Instagram shots. The blog is designed for a female audience.
  • Vlad Karavaev - interesting reports from Russia and neighboring countries.
  • Alexander Savchenko - traveled all over our vast country, visited China and the Philippines.
  • Alexey Nasedkin is an illustrated virtual travel magazine.
  • Ivan Dementievsky is a journalist who travels mainly across Russian latitudes.
  • Dmitry Malov - traveled to many countries, described many rare and exotic places.
  • bravebeaver - travel notes.
  • Denis Frantsuzov - travels across Russia in an all-wheel drive SUV. Prefers abandoned places.
  • Vadim Nardin - loves to travel a lot and take pictures of girls in these wanderings.
  • AL-31F - writes a lot on different topics, travels often, only visits interesting places.
  • Dmitry Islentiev is a married couple who shares their impressions with readers.
  • Ashblacklad is a professional photographer, lover of nature and cozy towns.
  • Alexander Chernykh is a professional blogger who posts articles from different countries.
  • Igor Vinogradov - travels around exotic places and talks about the life of their inhabitants.
  • Sergey Nagorny - leads a video blog, shoots reviews of different countries.
  • Alexey Pevnev is a Kaliningrad blogger who publishes captivating travel reports.
  • Enia Kulish - a lot of interesting things about different countries, there are some good diving posts.
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