2019, the Rise of a New Tour, the Exploration Game by Questo
By: Alex Govoreanu
Tags: Travel, Startup, Tourism, Tour, Games

A long long time ago, people started exploring the world…

For thousands of years, people have explored the world in search of food, water, land, treasures or magic rings. Then, during the Renaissance, exploration went one step further and people started traveling more and more for cultural and enlightenment purposes.

More recently, in 1841, Thomas Cook — an English gentleman organized an excursion from Leicester to Loughborough.

Not long after, he created a company for leisure travel and launched a pack-offer combining a rail journey with a travel handbook— an early version of the travel guide.

Fast forward to 2019, exploration went from food and land searches to more than 750 million people traveling around the world every year just for leisure.

As for the travel guide, people went from using paper guides to digital ones, as nowadays, pretty much everyone has a mobile phone in their pockets. This is the result of technology, which made travel more easy and accessible. Today, people can plan their entire journey using the internet for booking flights, accommodations, restaurants and tour guides.

In more recent times, people explore through play

Playing games is a fundamental activity for human development that helped us develop essential skills for our survival, such as coordination, social interaction, problem-solving, better memory, or attention to details.

We play games for thousands of years, but just like travel, games have also been impacted by technology in recent times.

Today, we play games on mobile devices, desktops or VR headsets that allow us to engage in immersive experiences and explore worlds of imagination.

And we can play these games indoors, but also while walking around the city.

Pokemon GO is a great example of an exploration game that got millions of people of all ages to explore cities through play. And by doing so, it helped them walk more, discover new places, interact with their friends and have fun.

When we want something, we want it now!

More about Instant Gratification on this WaitButWhy article.

Mobile phones and games have changed our behavior in many ways and instant gratification is one of them. When we want to…

learn something, we google it

check our friends, we go on Instagram or Facebook

interact with our friends, we message them

play with our friends, we play an online game

We can do all of these instantly and on our own.

Now, think about what happens when you travel. First, you book your flight and accommodation, then you stop your booking plans for activities for up to a few days before your arrival.

46% of travelers book their activities up to 2 days in advance. 80% up to 7 days.

Your schedule when traveling for leisure is unknown and open until you arrive at your destination. And this is normal. You’re visiting a new destination and you don’t know what places you’ll enjoy best and where you’d like to spend more time. And so, the alternative would be to book a tour guide when you arrive.

When we want something, we need flexibility

But, by booking a tour guide, you get tied to a schedule that will take you on a tight itinerary that you might or might not enjoy. This also means that if you enjoy a place and want to spend more time at it, you can’t really do so because you have a clear schedule to follow.

Of course, you could choose a more flexible private tour guide, but then it becomes a matter of budget.

50% of people book travel on their smartphones because they look for a better price

And on top of the budget issue, there’s one more thing…