Pearlshare travel guides promote ‘cultural diplomacy’
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Travel recommendations platform Pearlshare is launching two pioneering cultural initiatives with the Dutch Embassy in the UK and the annual arts festival, Spain NOW.
The collaborations will see Pearlshare’s platform employed by both organisations to take cultural diplomacy and cultural promotion into the mobile space, by creating bespoke travel guides.
The Dutch Embassy will be using Pearlshare’s mobile technology in the field of cultural diplomacy by creating a series of local guides that will help audiences engage with Dutch culture in the UK.
The first guide focusses on contemporary and historic Dutch art in London, while the other centres on London’s Dutch World War Two history. The guides will enable visitors to seek out Dutch culture in the capital, or will help them encounter it on the app while they are simply out and about exploring the city.
Annual contemporary art and culture festival Spain NOW is in its eighth year and has created a series of guides to supplement its latest September to December incarnation. The guides enable users to find Spanish high culture, including art and architecture, in London and beyond. They will also provide tips on where best to enjoy the capital’s much vaunted Spanish gastronomy.
The aim of these pilot guides is to grow ongoing engagement with new and existing audiences by capitalising on the explosion of information searches that are now completed via mobile devices. Sixty percent of research before a trip is made on smartphones, with 90% of in-trip information accessed via mobile devices. People are searching for information on-the-go now more than ever before.
The guides can be shared instantly via integrated in-app messaging, external messaging services, such as Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp, or posted on social media channels. They can be sent to customers before, during and after trips, creating opportunities for on-going conversations and driving new booking opportunities. Customers are encouraged to save guides and contribute their own recommendations, posting comments and photos.
Pearlshare’s advanced functionality allows users to save, modify and share personalised versions of its guides, giving users a bespoke experience. Recommendations from trusted sources are five times more likely to inspire action than paid media impressions, according to research by Nielsen, and Pearlshare guides offer an authentic alternative to user-generated sites, such as TripAdvisor, which are vulnerable to fake reviews.
Chief operating officer James O’Day, who co-founded the company with Michael Liebreich and Oliver Brooks, said: “We are excited to be working with two established and respected organisations to launch their new guide services. We feel this is a new and progressive way to promote locations and attractions to those engaged with London’s diverse culture – by providing truly useful and trusted travel information for people to engage with around the city.”
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