Travel Mobile App Development

The mobile and web apps for tourism allows you to create any planned trip in just a few clicks. From finding interesting places and planning an itinerary to booking plane tickets and hotel rooms.

That is why any leading travel agency is increasingly paying attention to creation of travel mobile application. This is a great tool for communicating with the target audience, allowing you to build a business process. Travel mobile apps include:

• Google and Yandex maps;
• travel planners;
• apps showing the nearest available Wi-Fi points around the world;
• apps for selection and booking of hotels and flights;
• apps for the purchasing of railway and air tickets in a given direction;
• identifying nearby establishments and places with specific requirements (e.g. Wi-Fi availability);
• travel forums and tour aggregators.

The main travel apps functionality

For travel agencies, airlines, hotels:

1. 01

   Formation of a list of current tours.
2. 02

   Work with reviews of tourists.
3. 03

   Formation of TOPs of public catering establishments and places of entertainment.
4. 04

   Placement of promotional special offers.
5. 05

   Synchronization of up-to-date flight information.
6. 06

   Work with locations.
7. 07

   Advanced search in the field of tourism.
8. 08

   Providing the possibility of filtering and sorting.

For tourists:

• search for hotels according to taste, requirements and possibilities;
• photo and video content, download options;
• ratings of hotels, restaurants, clubs and resorts;
• the ability to leave feedback and share your impressions;
• search for promotional offers;
• filters and search by category.

The main milestones of creating an app for tourism

Travel applications are one of the most common destinations. The task of app development companies is to create an app that can attract and retain as large an audience as possible, so that later they can work with this target audience.

Therefore at the first stage a business expertise is carried out:

1. 01

   the market and competitors are analyzed;
2. 02

   Reviews are being studied;
3. 03

   a portrait of the target audience is created;
4. 04

   the expectations and needs of potential consumers are identified.

Best travel app developers peculiarities

The competence of mobile apps creators is to follow the sequence of mobile app development.

An extremely important step in the development of a mobile app is positioning and naming. This is what attracts the visitor in the first place.

Then the logic of the app, the prototype, and the design are developed.

The last step is testing the application. It’s better to use as many mobile devices as possible for testing to make sure the travel mobile app works flawlessly.

Cross platform mobile applications and detailed development stages

Mobile app development is a difficult and very time-consuming process. It is a full-fledged software development, both the server part and the smartphone app itself. To make it easier to understand how mobile apps are created it makes sense to briefly describe each stage of work.

1. Product idea and business expertise

Customers, first of all, want to use their own embodied idea of mobile app or web resource. In order to harmonize their desires and technical realities the developer company conducts a free business examination, consults the client and finalizes the ideological component of the project, taking into account the needs of future consumers (users).

2. Project evaluation and proposal preparation

The project is already being evaluated by a specially selected team of developers. After that the client receives a preliminary commercial proposal for the development of an app. Competitor applications are further studied.

The moments where users may experience discomfort are analyzed, as well as where there is a delay in the execution of the task or an error is generated. This is done to determine, how the application being developed will differ from existing analogues.

3. Creation of a prototype.

After getting an understanding of what users expect from the app, it's possible to begin the prototyping process. A well-designed interface is a guarantee that the consumer will quickly navigate the app and the program will help to quickly solve his problem. The customer gets the opportunity to view the functionality of the future app without the software part.

A MindMap is - an intellectual map that allows to structure all the information received from the customer. This is a visual diagram of the project thanks to which all data about the app is in one place.

Based on the sketches, wireframes are created - a block diagram of the app pages. This is the design skeleton, where every detail of the future IT product is depicted. UX specialists work on page schemes.

The process of creating wireframes is under the control of the art director. After the project is approved, a clickable prototype is made, which is sent for approval to the technical department.

4. Product design

The design of all screens and element states is drawn. App design recommendations from Google and Apple are used. Graphic solutions should be understandable and convenient. The customer must receive a design that will make his app stand out from the competition.

5. Backlog and development contract

Backlog development and discussion of project details with the customer. After the approval of the backlog, the contract is signed.

6. Sprint planning and several words about travel app developers

First, some definitions:

• An increment is a specific step towards achieving a goal. To be of value an increment must be usable. Each increment is an addition to all the previous ones. They are carefully checked to ensure that all increments work together.
• Agile team - a functional group of 5 to 11 people that is empowered and able to define, create, test and implement an increment of value in a short time frame.
• SCRUM-team (SCRUM Team) is a prefabricated working team consisting of a development team and a product owner. The team is completely self-sufficient and does not depend on any external specialists.
• A sprint is a short time frame during which a scrum team completes a given amount of work. Sprints are at the heart of scrum and agile methodologies, and choosing the right sprints will help your agile team release better software without the headaches.

A schedule is determined with the customer: which development tasks will be completed in the next sprint, and which will be assigned to a later date.

7. Responsibility of Travel Mobile App Developers

Work passes to programmers. The development process is based on the Scrum agile development methodology. A complete list of tasks (back-log) is formed and divided into small sections (sprints).

Android app development and iOS app development are made separately, because they are designed for completely different platforms and these applications will be placed on different Internet sites (AppStore and GooglePlay).

The result is programmed step by step and demonstrated after each sprint. When the software part is ready, the app is sent for testing. Testers check the product for possible errors. If necessary, the app is returned for revision.

8. Retrospective about mobile apps

The results presentation to the customer in a fortnight. The team analyzes risks and problems, completes sprints, optimizes the further process of developing the app.

The main stages of mobile application development have been completed. Now the app has to be prepared for publication. To do this a product description and graphics are produced that comply with the rules of the Google Play and AppStore stores. If they are not followed, no any apps will not pass moderation.

9. Accompanying and achieving results

The difference between the professional project management and non-professionals or freelancers is that the first not only develop the apps, but are also responsible for their promotion.

As a result, customers cooperate with a company that is responsible for all stages of work: from the first button to downloading the app and thankful feedback from users.

The cost of mobile and web development

The following factors affect the cost of a travel app:

1. 01

   the complexity of the functionality;
2. 02

   platform used (whether the app is being developed for iPhone, iPod or Android);
3. 03

   design.

The difference in pricing when hiring professional, competent IT specialists is that the customer pays for the project as a whole, and not for the number of hours spent on development:

• Even before the start of work, the customer knows the cost of the project.
• All obligations and terms are specified in the smart contract.
• Guarantee that your app will be published in Google Play and AppStore.

Conclusion regarding outsourcing travel app development company

So, you are a company operating in the tourism industry. Now, more than ever, you need to use all possible tools in order to expand your target audience, as much as possible. Creating and distributing a mobile app that can be downloaded from the most popular online stores is the most effective way to drive sales.

The task is not trivial. What is the best way to organize the work of creating an app? You can entrust this task to your own IT department, after hiring a couple of expensive specialists there, focusing on third-party recommendations. In this case, it will be necessary to control the execution of the task, most likely, independently that is non-systemically.

The best solution is to order the creating of a web and mobile app at professional software development company, whose specialists are:

• competent;
• highly qualified;
• have a long experience in implementing similar projects;
• organized into effective working groups.

Obviously, the last option is the most efficient for your business. Make the right choice.