The world’s first National Park I-phone App has been launched today, Monday 18th October, in the Cairngorms National Park by one of the country’s leading tourism and business organisations.
The VisitCairngorms App is the first app in the world to give visitors to a National Park the opportunity to obtain free, up-to-date information on where to stay, what to do and where to eat and drink based on their location within the Park.
In addition, the app will also allow visitors to access information on events taking place in the UK’s largest National Park.
Alan Rankin, Chief Executive of the Cairngorms Business Partnership, the organisation that has developed and launched the Cairngorms App, said: “It is incredibly exciting to be the first National Park in the world to launch a free information app specifically designed for visitors to the area and we are delighted to be leading the way. There are other National Park apps out there, but many are simply games, maps or overview apps – we have done our research and there are none out there that work in the way our app is designed – to get the customer in touch with local businesses and which are completely free to the user.“
The Cairngorms App gives the user the opportunity to search for restaurants, cafes activity providers and attractions closest to them wherever they are in the Cairngorms National Park. It will also tell the user how far away they are from any one business as well as giving them information on the company, Visit Scotland star ratings, contact information to make a booking and a link to the inbuilt Maps App giving them directions to where they are aiming to go. The area has a very effective website www.visitcairngorms.com and social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter but the launch of the new app represents a first real step towards being able to communicate directly with visitors when they are moving around the area.
The I phone app is fed by a database of over 1200 listings and choices for the visitor and, like the website www.visitcairngorms.com, gets the customer to the business fast.
Rankin added. “Both the website and I-phone app are industry leaders in letting the user book a table, rooms or an activity within three clicks or taps. Customers now demand that information is immediately to hand. To date we have been able to provide great detail on the area via our website for what is mostly information gathering pre-departure, but now we have taken a massive leap forward in being able to provide customers live up to date information direct to their i-phones as they travel or visit the area.”
The app will identify the users location and then provide through Google Maps directions and a live map tracking their progress to the selected business. The app also provides directions by car, train or on foot to the chosen business.
The sometimes intermittent mobile signal within the Cairngorms National Park is also not a problem for the Cairngorms App as, explains Alan Rankin: “The app will automatically update when the user is within a mobile signal range in order to ensure that no-one misses out on the special offers and users can also gain the most relevant information to them at any one time.”
The Cairngorms Business Partnership decided to launch the App for the I-phone only to begin with following a study of the area that confirmed there was 5 times as many i-phone based enquiries to their website than all the other providers put together and nearly 15 times as many to that of second placed Blackberry users.
The project is supported by the Cairngorms National Park Authority and the Northern Periphery Programme funded Clim- ATIC Project.
For further information on the I-phone App or the Cairngorms Business Partnership, please contact info@visitcairngorms.com
