Aussie Website as new Travel 'Local Webvisory' Special

Developed by a couple of Australian tech and travel buffs, Travellr.com is the latest addition to a growing list of Web forums and advisories engaged by travellers who look for local knowledge about their intended destinations.

Publicly launched in CeBit Australia 2009 this week, the website's beta version is now available for use by the general public. The founders started introducing the website 3 months ago to travel bloggers for testing and review. This pre-launch campaign has resulted in attracting locals and travellers from around 100 countries to join the site. The effort has also attracted around 1,800 twitter followers so far. It joins other popular established Local Travel WebVisories such as the likes of Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree Forum, MarketTravelFair ,YourSafePlanet, Localyte, whl.travel, Fodors, Travellerspoint, Matador Network, and Spotted by Locals - to name a few. Ian Cumming, Co-Founder of Travellr.com says, "Our site focuses exclusively on answers". Providing answers is facilitated by the website's own unique recommendation engine, pairing a traveller's question to recommended local advisers and travellers. According to Ian at present, the amount of answers posted on the site is double the number of questions.The questions answered can be as obscure as finding out where one can purchase a 4wd in Nairobi to, where to take a girl out on a date. Web travel advisories powered by local resident contributors have solidified their place in the Internet Travel Community due to a demand for alternative information sources other than Travel Agencies and Travel Books. Local residents and fellow travellers who have fully experienced destinations can provide more information than a packaged tour or a travel magazine. They may also provide information that is more up-to-date and nearer to what a local guide can tell a traveller prior to arrival. Finding out local information also enables travellers to take control of their own travel experience according to their own preferences and personal budget. However, finding out the desired answers and information are dependent on other factors such as the site's participation rate, popularity, how the questions are answered (whether they are tongue in cheek or fully informative) and the quality of trusted contributors. Established sites such as Spotted by Locals, the 2009 Lonely Planet Travel Blog Awards Winner, only allows local "spotters" or contributors to provide local information after a "face to face" meeting with the site's facilitators. WHL.Travel relies on local travel providers, local industry associations and NGOs. Another established site, The Matador Network has a high participation rate with more than half a million unique monthly visitors and nearly 900 articles submitted since the beginning of the year. Thorn Tree's effectiveness attaches itself to the Lonely Planet brand and community. With that, Travellr.com joins a variety of good company as it steps out as the new kid in the block in midst of other information providers in the Internet Travel Community schoolyard.