The Flower Carpets of Sitges

Sixty days after Easter Sunday, on the last day of the Corpus Christi Festival, hundreds of locals awake in the early hours of the morning to transform the streets of the Spanish town of Sitges (just south of Barcelona) into ‘flower carpets’. Known as Catif de flors in Catalan, these carpets are made up of thousands of brightly-coloured petals, flowers and seeds. They traditionally depict images of various Catholic effigies, but also feature a range of truly imaginative creations.

The Corpus Christi Festival is a Catholic celebration in honour of the Eucharist – the body of Jesus Christ. However, despite this being a predominantly religious festival, it still attracts hundreds of non-Catholic visitors every year. Most of the streets and plazas of Sitges become pedestrian-only zones, and the flower displays are the centre of attention.

The displays themselves are cordoned-off, which protects them from being trampled underfoot, but this can also cause a bit of overcrowding. Be sure to head out early, so as to avoid feeling cramped in the narrow pathways. Regardless of what time you head out, however, you’ll be glad that you did. The displays are quite simply breath taking; ranging from intricate and detailed to full on flower sculptures bursting with colour. The Catif de flors will not leave you feeling disappointed. To help you navigate the city, download the Hummba Audio Sitges Town Guide. 

Le Web 2012 – Where does Tourism Radio® fit in?

Hummba's parent company, Tourism Radio, was this year invited to Paris, France, to take part in the premier internet and blogging expo in the world, Le Web.

According to Le Web’s organisers, more than 50 billion electronic devices will be connected to the internet by the year 2020. If that number is too staggering to comprehend, try look at it from your own perspective: How many devices do you own that are connected to the web? Your Android smartphone? Your iPad? Your television? Possibly even your fridge? It’s only logical that your vehicle will follow suit, and that’s where Tourism Radio and French auto giant Renault come in.

Tourism Radio in the Renault R-Link

At Le Web 2012, we officially launched the Renault R-Link Tourism Radio audio travel guide application. The R-Link is Renault’s fully integrated multimedia system, and will be available in selected Renault models from 2013. Tourism Radio is one of the first applications that will be available for download on the system.

Le Web 2012 follows the theme The Internet of Things, and organisers say it’s all about “melding the physical world and the virtual world.” Here at Tourism Radio, we can’t agree more. Our partnership with Renault ensures that drivers will soon be able to explore cities all over the world from the comfort of their vehicles. We launched the R-Link app with a comprehensive guide to Paris (in English, French and German). Plans to expand our content base to other European centres are already on the cards and these are expected to roll out in the first quarter of 2013.

Tourism Radio in the Renault R-Link

If you’re at Le Web, be sure to head over to the Renault stand and give the Tourism Radio app a spin. If however you’ve missed the expo, don’t worry, you can get all the info you need from our website: http://www.tourismradio.info.

Tourism Radio® showcases audio guides on the Renault R-Link at Le Web 2012

(Cape Town, South Africa) South African travel technology company Tourism Radio joins forces with French automaker Renault at Le Web 2012 – the foremost blogging and web expo in the world.

Renault first announced its fully-connected and integrated R-Link multimedia system at last year’s Le Web, where it was revealed that Tourism Radio would be one of the first applications available for download on the system.

Tourism Radio’s R-link application plays general audio information about the area a Renault vehicle is driving through, as well as information about specific points of interest nearby. It will serve as a personal tour guide, built right into the dashboard of future Renault models. The uniqueness of Tourism Radio’s technology is in its ability to seamlessly arrange thousands of audio clips and organise them into a coherent dialogue, based on location, creating a tailor-made user experience for each vehicle.

Tourism Radio CEO Mark Allewell says, “Renault has always been at the forefront of automotive technology, and I believe that the R-Link is quite simply the next evolutionary step of the motor vehicle. Tourism Radio is the perfect addition to the R-Link, and it also fits in with the theme of Le Web 2012, the Internet of Things.” Allewell will attend Le Web from the 4th to the 6th of December, and has been invited to showcase Tourism Radio on the Renault stand.

Tourism Radio’s R-Link application will initially feature an audio guide to Paris (in English, French and German), with plans to roll out to other major European centres in the near future. For more information about Tourism Radio visit http://www.tourismradio.info.

Tourism Radio clocks its one-millionth device rental day

(Cape Town, South Africa) South African travel technology producer Tourism Radio® has officially recorded its one-millionth device rental day. This comes just weeks before the traditional Southern Hemisphere end-of-year tourist high season.

Tourism Radio currently has location-based travel guide devices circulating in South Africa, New Zealand, Namibia and Angola. The device plays audio clips automatically as the user approaches specific points of interest or enters into a general location. The uniqueness of the technology is in its ability to seamlessly arrange thousands of audio clips and organise them into a coherent dialogue, based on location, creating a great user experience for travellers as they drive around.

While in use, the device keeps a detailed log of its position and gathers information about how many times particular sound clips are played, based on the user’s movements. This means Tourism Radio is able to produce detailed usage reports on where travellers are going and what they are doing during their stay – a very handy tool for advertisers.

Since the Tourism Radio usage stats went live in early 2010, the company this month logged its one-millionth device rental day. Tourism Radio CEO Mark Allewell says, “Our ability to not only play locally-relevant information to travellers, but also to build up a huge database of where travellers are going, has given us an insight into what tourists expect while on holiday.”

“With these usage stats,” says Allewell, “we’re able to show our advertisers exactly where their money is going. No longer do companies have to spend with the faint hope of having some kind of impact on anyone who happens to see or hear their ad. Tourism Radio offers advertisers a captive audience, and we’re able to show them just how effective their campaigns actually are.”

CNN features South African tech-company Tourism Radio on Marketplace Africa

In an effort to showcase entrepreneurship in South Africa, CNN recently featured Cape Town-based travel technology company Tourism Radio on their Marketplace Africa programme.

Founded in 2005, Tourism Radio is the brainchild of serial entrepreneur Mark Allewell. The company produces location-based technology and travel content, with audio clips that play automatically when users approach specific points of interest. “The uniqueness of the technology is in its ability to seamlessly arrange thousands of audio clips and organise them into a coherent dialogue, based on location,” says Allewell.

Tourism Radio’s mobile phone application, Hummba, is a traveller’s community and travel guide shop; users can buy travel guides, upload postcards and share their travel experiences with fellow travellers.

CNN’s Robyn Curnow spoke to Allewell about the challenges associated with being an entrepreneur in South Africa. Allewell admits that he was one of the lucky few. “We were very fortunate in that an international investor saw the potential of Tourism Radio when we were featured on the Discovery Channel in 2006. They immediately decided to buy in, allowing us to expand our operations to New Zealand, Namibia and Spain.

Allewell says many entrepreneurs are looking for a ‘quick fix’, instead of taking the time to create something that really works properly and speaks for itself. He maintains that there is also a huge lack of skilled labour in the tech industry, which makes things incredibly difficult for start-ups, “A lot of big companies are coming in to Cape Town now and taking up those resources.”

Allewell says the attention they have received from CNN is the latest in international interest the company has received. “Over the course of the last year, we’ve forged solid partnerships with some of the world’s top brand names, including North American travel guide giant Frommer’s and French automotive leader Renault.”

For more information about Tourism Radio visit http://www.tourismradio.info or view the CNN Marketplace Africa feature here.

South African tech company Tourism Radio reaches out to cruise line tourists in Angola

(Cape Town, South Africa) Hummba's parent company, Tourism Radio is proud to announce its partnership with the world’s foremost luxury travel company, Abercrombie & Kent (A&K). The agreement will see the Cape Town-based leader in audio travel technology provide detailed audio tours to passengers on A&K cruise liner passengers visiting the Angolan capital city of Luanda.

A&K representative, and Vice President for Worldwide Cruise Operations at Akorn Destination Management, Chris Owen-Collett says, “Previously, the main challenge to operating in Angola was the lack of qualified and English-speaking guides, however we have now found a way to successfully meet this challenge in the short- to mid-term.”

A&K has been actively developing Luanda as a viable port of call for cruise liners, and Owen-Collett says their partnership with Tourism Radio will help open up the country for well-travelled cruisers to sample. The majority of liners entering into regional waters stop at Walvis Bay, in Namibia, and Owen-Collett maintains that destinations like the Angolan ports of Luanda and Lobito remain largely unexplored from a tourism standpoint.

Tourism Radio CEO Mark Allewell adds, “The uniqueness of our technology is in its ability to seamlessly arrange thousands of audio clips and organise them into a coherent dialogue, based on location. This move into Angola will see Tourism Radio represented in three countries on the West African coast [including South Africa and Namibia].”

Angola is currently in the midst of a massive phase of reconstruction and rejuvenation, following a brutal 27-year civil war. Luanda has been rated as one of the most expensive cities in the world to live, and it is arguably one of the world’s up-and-coming tourist destinations. Allewell says, “Once again, we’re moving into unchartered waters and we look forward to providing A&K passengers with a tour of Luanda they won’t soon forget.”

South African tech company Tourism Radio announces excitement over the recent purchase of the Frommer’s brand by Google

(Cape Town, South Africa) South African travel technology company Tourism Radio is pleased to hear about the recent purchase of the Frommer’s travel guidebook brand by Google, and excited about the potential this holds for mobile travellers.

An announcement about the internet giant’s latest acquisition was made by Frommer’s owner John Wiley & Sons earlier this week. Both parties declined to comment on the financial terms of the Frommer’s deal, but Tourism Radio CEO Mark Allewell says this shouldn’t be the focus. Allewell maintains, “The fact that Google are expanding on their existing travel interests means that they’re obviously committed to developing the industry, in so doing, completely changing the way we travel.”

Google bought restaurant review authority Zagat in September last year and has confirmed that Frommer’s will now be fully integrated into the team. Allewell says, “Frommer’s is one of the most trusted travel guide names in the world, and they’re the perfect addition to the Google stable.”

Tourism Radio partnered with Frommer’s in March this year to produce audio travel guides for destinations all over the world on their mobile platform. Allewell says, “At present, we’re very happy with our partnership with Frommer’s, and together we’ve produced some really quality guides for tech-savvy travellers.”

About Tourism Radio:
Founded in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2005, Tourism Radio is the brainchild of serial entrepreneur Mark Allewell. Tourism Radio provides location-based technology and travel content, and currently has offices in South Africa, New Zealand and Spain. Tourism Radio’s mobile phone application, Hummba, is a traveller’s community and travel guide shop where users can buy travel guides, create travel routes, upload picture postcards and share their travel experiences with fellow travellers.

Tourism Radio City Guides, featuring Frommer’s

Hummba’s parent company, Tourism Radio® recently partnered with US-based travel guide publisher Frommer’s® Unlimited; check out the earlier blog post here. In a nutshell, the partnership sees Tourism Radio’s audio city guides significantly beefed up with quality Frommer’s travel content.

That means we’ve now got more than 40 guides, to destinations all over the world, with more on the way. Our current offerings include guides to New York, Paris, Berlin, Singapore and even the islands of Hawaii. You can find these through the Hummba guide store or search for your favourite destinations through the continent and country pages on the Hummba website.

Just click on North America, for example, and you’ll be provided with information about the continent, as well as a list of the guides we have on offer. There are several city guides in the United States of America, and Canada, that you can download directly onto your mobile phone.

Thanks to our partnership with Frommer’s, these guides now contain detailed information about the various tourist attractions, restaurants and accommodation facilities found in the area, and much more! What better way to explore the cities you visit on your travels? You can even use them to discover more about the cities you’ve lived in for years.

On top of all that, there are also a number of ‘lite’ guides, which can be downloaded absolutely free of charge. These lite guides give you the opportunity to sample the content of some of the more popular travel guides, before committing to paying for the full one. We recommend you give the Paris and London lite guides a try, and if you like them, purchase the full guides.

For more information about Tourism Radio’s City Guides, visit hummba.com. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter as well (@tourismradio and @hummba). That way you’ll be the first to know when we release new city guides in the coming weeks.

London and Paris City Guides – Hummba is all you need

London and Paris are undoubtedly two of the most visited tourist destinations in the world. Millions of people visit the cities each year, and many them will travel half way across the globe to do so.

The two cities share a few similarities in that they are both modern capitals, and have long been considered the centres of culture, fashion, entertainment and industry for their respective countries. They are also travel hubs, and are often used as stopover points for people travelling even further afield. Another point to note is that the two cities are relatively close to one another, and one can easily travel between the London and Paris by simply hopping on a high-speed train (a trip that takes just two hours) or budget airline. That being said, the two cities couldn’t be any more different.

Paris has the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe, while London has Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London and Piccadilly Circus. Paris is known as the City of Light and is unofficially regarded as one of the most romantic cities in the world. London however claims the title as being one of the most commercially successful places in the world; the city to go if you’re looking to make it.

Here at Hummba, we believe both cities are fantastic destinations in their own rite. Each is a veritable cornucopia of tourist attractions, and one can easily get lost in either for days on end. That’s why we’re put together our comprehensive City Guides to London and Paris.

The London City Guide features more than three hours of quality audio travel content and a total of 634 points of interest, while the Paris City Guide contains 549 points of interest, and also has more than three hours of audio.

You can download the guides onto your iPhone or Android mobile. Or download them from the iStore and Android Marketplace: just search for “Tourism Radio London City Guide” or “Tourism Radio Paris City Guide”.

Happy travels!

New and improved version of the Hummba mobile travel application available for download

We recently released the latest version of our location-based Hummba mobile travel application (available on iPhone and Android). The app now comes jam-packed with new features, including the ability to find and purchase guides though the app itself, filter points of interest by category, as well as find your way with the innovative ‘go there’ button.

The new category filter allows Hummba users to search through thousands of museums, restaurants, historical attractions, and more, at touch of a button. The partnership between Hummba’s parent company, Tourism Radio®, and Frommer’s® Unlimited, a world-renowned travel guide publisher, has ensured that our guides now contain an unprecedented amount of up-to-date, quality travel information.

The Hummba application also supports in-app purchasing. This means you can search for the guides you want either on the Hummba website or in the app itself, where you can make your purchases directly. Just download a guide to your favourite holiday destination and pay for it through the Hummba app, even while you’re on the move. There’s no need to find a computer and search through the app store for your guides.

On top of these features, Hummba also puts you in the right direction. Need to find the quickest way to get from your hotel in London to Big Ben? Just select the Big Ben point of interest in Hummba and hit the ‘go there’ button in the top right corner. Hummba will use your current location to map out a route. There’s no need for bulky guide books and impossible-to-use city maps, just use Hummba.

For more information about Hummba, the Hummba app, or our comprehensive city guides to popular tourist destinations all over the world, visit hummba.com.

South African tech start-up Tourism Radio® partners with Frommer’s® Unlimited to provide local travel information in mobile audio guides

(Cape Town, South Africa / Hoboken, NJ, USA) South African travel technology company Tourism Radio has teamed up with Frommer’s® Unlimited in a move that is set to revolutionise the world of mobile travel guides.

Frommer’s has been a trusted travel resource for more than 50 years, and the partnership with the iconic travel brand will firmly establish Tourism Radio in the mobile space with the next generation of travel guides. Tourism Radio’s unique mobile technology seamlessly blends Frommer’s text content with Tourism Radio audio clips, which automatically play as travellers enter their location.

The initial partnership launch will entail the release of audio and text travel guides to a number of popular travel destinations around the world. This includes comprehensive guides to the top tourist cities of New York, London and Paris. The guides can be downloaded as standalone applications for Android and iPhone, or accessed through the Tourism Radio travel application, Hummba.

Hummba.com was included in the listings for the Top 20 Startups in Africa in Forbes magazine in February this year.

Tourism Radio founder and CEO Mark Allewell says, “We like to think of our partnership with Frommer’s as serendipity on steroids. Travellers will now be able to easily access an unprecedented amount of quality travel information, directly from their mobile phones. We’re also delighted to partner with one of the world’s oldest and most respected travel companies, and we look forward to producing guides that cater for every traveller’s needs.”

The Frommer’s Unlimited team is optimistic about the partnership’s potential in the travel landscape. "Offering Frommer's travel information through Tourism Radio's intelligent mobile audio guides is an exciting new way for travelers to access our expert travel advice at the right time in the right place,” said Craig Schickler, Director of E-Business Development, Wiley. “We are happy to be working with Tourism Radio and together helping shape memorable experiences for travelers around the globe."

From launch until the 1st of May, the audio travel guides from across the globe will be free for download, after which, they will range in price from US$ 0.99 to US$4.99, depending on the amount of travel content they contain. A selection of free, ‘lite’ guides, to several popular destinations around the world, will also be available for download. These give travellers the opportunity to sample the content before committing to the purchase of a full guide.

About Frommer’s® Unlimited

For over 50 years, Frommer's travel guides have been the trusted choice to help travelers explore destinations the way the locals do. Frommer’s Unlimited enables businesses to create high-value propositions for their customers by leveraging Frommer’s travel expertise, rich content resources and technical capabilities.

Products and services provided by Frommer’s Unlimited include global destination and events content, private label Websites, mobile applications and custom publishing. Whether your customers are venturing close to home or across the globe, whether your budget is limited or limitless, Frommer’s Unlimited delivers the most candid and reliable travel and event information, anywhere and anytime. Frommer’s is a registered trademark of Arthur Frommer. Frommer’s is a branded imprint of Wiley.

About Tourism Radio®

Founded in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2005, Tourism Radio is the brainchild of serial entrepreneur Mark Allewell. Tourism Radio provides location-based technology and travel content, and currently has offices in South Africa, New Zealand and Spain. Tourism Radio’s mobile phone application, Hummba, is a traveller’s community and travel guide shop where users can buy travel guides, create travel routes, upload picture postcards and share their travel experiences with fellow travellers.