SmartGuide has developed an interactive online tourist map loaded with over 12 000 tourism businesses, and is looking to expand its database.

The site provides information on accommodation, activities and restaurants all over Southern Africa. To access the information, visitors to the site can search the tabs and click on the icons that appear for more information, zooming in on specific products and activities.

Tourism suppliers, such as DMCs, tour operators, and accommodation establishments, can load their information free on the site, making it widely available to the industry. Suppliers can integrate the map into their own sites. “We have seen how placing the map on a website increases the average length of time the person stays on the site,” says Paul de Waal from SmartGuide. “Once a tour operator has someone logged on to their website, the map can help keep them there.”

SmartGuide is also able to supply personalised maps that display only the supplier’s information, with competitors’ data removed. This map can be fixed in their website, attached to emails, and embedded into blogs, making it particularly useful for overseas agents who do not know the property well.

“What we are trying to do is create a comprehensive online interactive guide of Southern Africa,” says de Waal. “We want everyone to sign up so we can achieve this.”

Take a look at the website at www.africantourismportal.com. Interested parties can contact content@smartguide.co.za.