Working in partnership, USAID, through the USAID’s Tourism For All Project, Heineken Timor S.A., Telkomcel and the Directorate General of Tourism have developed a new travel app: GoTimor.
GoTimor is a mobile application featuring the many great experiences that Timor-Leste has to offer to local people and expatriates. According to a recent survey by eMarketer, travel-based mobile apps are the seventh most-downloaded app category and almost 60 percent of smartphone users regularly use travel apps while planning trips. With digital tools at hand, people now prefer to make their own travel arrangements through portable and user-friendly mobile apps.
Tourism information about Timor-Leste is currently dispersed across different websites and social media platforms. By creating a single portal, the GoTimor app connects users with all of the information needed to plan trips and outings, with features such as Google map integration, a customer rating system and the ability to share plans with friends and family via digital media. It will also offer a marketing opportunity to smaller businesses who lack the budget for print advertising or brochures and help to promote special events and offers on a regular basis.
Not only is the app free to use and download, it is also free for businesses to list their services and details. Fone Haus, Compass Diving, East Timor Trading (Yellow tail?), Air Timor and Dreamers Dive Academy offered lucky draw prizes for those who download the app before the official launch on November 20.
“The GoTimor app will drive sustainable tourism for the benefit of local communities by increasing demand for tourism activities, products, and events,” said USAID Mission Director Zema Semunegus. “It will make it possible for Timorese people to create exceptional visitor experiences.”
The National Director of Tourism Marketing, Edson Robert Noronha Lopes, said that the app would help facilitate the implementation of the National Tourism Policy by establishing a public-private partnership platform for tourism marketing and promotion: “It will really help to support us at the Ministry of Tourism in our marketing activity,” he said. “Partnership is one of the pillars of our national tourism policy and it’s very important for the future development of our tourism industry. The government and the private sector have that objective in common: the private sector is looking to develop tourism sites, while the government facilitates that process legally and administratively.”
Two key aspects of the GoTimor app are the Google maps feature to help travelers plan their journeys and locate the businesses they are seeking, and the customer review function. Ratbaghavati Bela of Telkomcel said that the app would help tourists to make bookings with confidence based on the star ratings given by previous visitors. “Tourists will notice a hotel or restaurant and visit because they trust the review. The impact is to grow businesses and improve the quality of services and products. This is more personal than Google. The GoTimor app knows Timor-Leste better than Google does, all information is updated here. We see the pandemic as an opportunity for local tourism to rise and grow. People need vacations and current limitations on international travel will be help local communities to make money.”
As GoTimor develops, the partners will work to monetize the application to ensure its medium to long term sustainability and to target international travelers. For the next year, Telkomcel is managing the app and collating content, which is mainly focused on Dili businesses at present. Contact gotimorapp@gmail.com for information about how businesses can have their information included in the app.
Download the GoTimor app here:
Android link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=appgotimorapp.wpapp
Apple link: https://apps.apple.com/au/app/gotimor/id1581703288
USAID's Tourism For All Project