Scootin’ off to London
Paris is banning rental electric scooters from its streets after voters resoundingly backed a blanket ban on the scooters in a referendum.
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said scooters on Parisian streets were a “nuisance”.
Soon that “nuisance” will be on the move. Operators are removing an estimated 15,000 rental units from Paris and will send them to other cities in Europe, including London and Copenhagen.
The referendum on e-scooters in Paris was held in response to a rising number of injuries and deaths associated with e-scooters in the French capital.
South Africa enlists tech for tourism safety
South Africa’s Department of Tourism is investing in technology to improve visitor safety in a bid to confront crime at tourism hotspots.
Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille said, while “issues of safety remain an obstacle to convert would-be tourists to visit our country”, the roll-out of 2,300 safety personnel – so-called ‘monitors’ – at key tourist sites would help to deter criminal activity.
De Lille said crime hotspots have been identified, and the police-trained monitors would be deployed across the country ahead of the summer tourist season, starting in late October.
The security officers will be backed by technology, including a tracking device, which will follow their movements around tourism sites.
The Tourism Business Council of South Africa has also developed a safety app called Secura. It will allow visitors access to affordable medical care and emergency service providers.
Two to tango after destination content acquisition
Smartvel has acquired ArrivalGuides, the world’s leading destination content provider with more than 630 global destination guides.
As a result, Smartvel whose extensive range of technology solutions include Trip Planner, Explore&Go, Event Calendar and EntryDocs, said it will expand its content “and explore new opportunities with new and existing partners”.
By integrating ArrivalGuides into its suite of AI-enriched technology, Smartvel will gather, translate and geolocate “everything there is to experience in any destination around the world”.
Iñigo Valenzuela, CEO of Smartvel, said: “ArrivalGuides delivers the widest content in the industry, and we are delighted to announce this latest acquisition. Our AI enriched solutions enable travel businesses to provide relevant information travellers need at every stage of their journey, including prices and improving the SEO, from planning to the final destination.”
This beach is the most Instagrammable in the world.
Brand experience company Arka has named Queensland’s 40-km long Gold Coast beach as the most Instagrammable beach worldwide with 9.8 million hashtags on Instagram.
Arka’s study considered two key metrics: the number of Instagram hashtags associated with each beach and how many people visited each year. The initial selection of beaches was made based on their popularity on such travel platforms as TripAdvisor and Lonely Planet.
Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach, which attracts 14.6 million visitors annually, slotted into second place with 1.9 million Instagram hashtags.
In the third spot, Thailand’s Koh Tao has 1.2 million Instagram hashtags despite only receiving 100,000 visitors yearly.
Raja Ampat Islands in Indonesia takes the fourth position. With its Salawati beach, the islands have been tagged more than one million times on Instagram. Annually, 497,000 people visit its beachfront.
Ranking fifth, Waikiki Beach (four million visitors per year) has 965,000 Instagram hashtags.
In sixth position, Tulum Beach in Mexico with 538,000 Instagram hashtags is followed by Sopot Beach in Poland, tagged over 496,000 times on Instagram, the Napali Coast in Hawaii, with 257,000 Instagram hashtags, and Whitehaven Beach in Australia (225,000 tags).
Cathedral Cove in New Zealand completes the top 10, with 122,000 Instagram hashtags from many of it 150,000 annual visitors.
