Touristlink.com announces the launch of a redesigned home page that highlights the websites social travel features.

(TRAVPR.COM) INDIA - August 6th, 2013 - Touristlink.com announces the launch of a redesigned home page with a highlighted focus on social travel.  The website makes it easy for travelers to connect with locals, meet traveling companions, and arrange tours and activities with local guides. Also featured on the home page are top trips from local guides which are hand selected by the Touristlink team from over 1000 currently listed. 

Touristlink aims to be the social network for meeting the people you don’t already know but with whom you share the same travel interests. A number of websites offer similar services but either charge a fee for communication between members or instead focus on encouraging members to share homestays with each other. Touristlink.com focuses on travelers who want to meet travel companions or just get to know some locals for coffee, a city tour or a night out.  Social features of the website include the ability for members to browse different locations and see other members with upcoming trips. The websites founders note that Facebook is great for connecting with friends but when you travel you go outside your normal network so you need to rely on a social network that connects you to those people you don’t already know.

A number of social travel sites have launched in the past several years with most focusing on providing members with reviews and recommendations of destinations from friends and friends of friends based on the members Facebook network. Founder of the site David Urmann commented “We think social means connecting people to people and trying to engage people around content is not the most meaningful direction.  Its easy to find reviews and information on the web and I don’t believe we need a social network just for that. What is more difficult is finding other people with similar travel interests to connect with that are outside of your current social network and that’s what we aim to do with Touristlink.”

A key feature of Touristlink is that it allows locals with travel businesses to sign up and list a tour or special rate on a room. Travelers can interact with these local travel providers, ask questions and see reviews. The team at Touristlink hand picks the best tours out of the thousands that are listed based on price, availability and service making it easy for travelers to buy direct from locals. Tour guides and travel agents interested in signing up may do so at www.touristlink.com/travel.

Touristlink makes it easy for travelers to connect with locals, meet traveling companions, and arrange tours and activities with local guides. Travelers tired of generic tour offerings can get unique trip ideas and offers direct from local providers as well as see reviews and recommendations of the same provider from other travelers. Businesses benefit in that they get additional online exposure and can access a host of tools to help them engage customers on traditional social media platforms. It’s a great resource whether you want to get off the beaten path or just want to plan your own trip. Touristlink has versions in both Spanish (es.touristlink.com) and Portugese (Touristlink.com.br).

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