Iloilo Travel guide app from Smart and InnoPub launched!
Tourists headed to Iloilo now have a portable guide for their trip with the release of the Iloilo Guide mobile phone application. Iloilo Guide is released in time for the Dinagyang Festival this weekend under the nationwide Digital Tourism program of Cebu-based new media startup InnoPub Media and the country's telecommunications leader Smart Communications.
It is supported by the Department of Tourism-Western Visayas, the Iloilo City Government and the Philippines' leading low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific Air.
Iloilo Guide provides tourists with information about Iloilo and tips on places to visit during their trip. It also contains a guide on food visitors should try. The app also contains a directory of Department of Tourism Western Visayas-accredited tour guides and tour operators. It also contains a listing of important government offices, hospitals and emergency units like the police and fire departments.
The listings are active and tourists do not need to copy the phone numbers for dialling later, they just need to tap the numbers to initiate the call. Many places mentioned and listed in the guide have a “check location” link that, when pressed, uses the gadget's GPS to check where the tourist is and show her where the tourism spot is located and provide a suggested route to get there.
The guide also contains the story behind the Dinagyang Festival as well as a listing of free wifi spots and Smart Live All Out events on Sunday, January 26.
Iloilo Guide is available for download as an Android app at the Google Play Store and as a Windows Phone app from the Windows Phone Store. Those using other devices like iPhones, iPads or BlackBerry devices, can use the mobile web version of the guide at http://iloilo.myguide.ph.
“People, especially tourists, always bring their smartphones or tablets with them wherever they go. What better way to provide important tourism, cultural and historical information than through these devices that are increasingly becoming our main portable computers?” said Max Limpag, co-founder of InnoPub Media.
"We're happy to step up our support for the province of Iloilo from our successful launch here last year. Tourism and technology can help people connect closer to local communities and can be help spur economies. This is more relevant in the aftermath of the natural disasters that hit the Visayas last year." said Atty. Maria Jane C. Paredes, senior manager for Public Affairs Group - Visayas and Mindanao.
The Digital Tourism program was launched in Iloilo City in May 2013. It is a continuing project to gather tourism, historical and cultural information and sharing this with people through mobile technology.
The Iloilo Guide will be actively updated in the coming months to include more information to help tourists make the most of their visit.
Last week, InnoPub released the Sinulog app in time for the festivities in Cebu.
Source: Smart Communications
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