Geogad has just released its new mobile web site. Yes, you asked for it, and now it is here.

Geogad has made your travels even easier. You can now forget about planning your sightseeing in advance. All you need to do is point the mobile browser on your cell phone at the new Geogad mobile web site at http://m.geogad.com. From this new portal, you have access to all of Geogad’s great multimedia tours and tour stops.

Just image that you are walking around the main tourist office of Savannah thinking about paying big bucks to take one of the many guided tours when a fellow traveler tells you about Geogad’s wonderful tours of Savannah that also are totally free. You are sure that there must be some sort of catch. After all, everyone else is paying $20 for their tours. But you are willing to try it.

You get out your trusty phone, tap the key to bring up the mobile browser and type “http://m.geogad.com” into the address bar. Instantly, you are transported to the Geogad mobile site with a list of choices. You see “Tours” and select that one. A list of Geogad’s professionally created tours is displayed, sorted by country and city. You see two tours for Savannah, one for the Eastern Historic District and another for the Western. You select the Eastern tour and view the sample tour.

OK, you are hooked. This is kinda cool. You decide to sign up and try the entire tour. Hey, the tour starts right were you are at the main tourist office. Even better, it includes directions and easy-to-read maps to the next tour stop. You and your trusty mobile phone are now walking through the sunny squares of Savannah as you listen to the history of this quaint old town.

Before you know it, you have reached the end of the tour, overlooking the Savannah River and River Street with its shops and restaurants. Even better, there is another free Geogad tour of the Western Historic District that starts at this location. You are definitely going to take the western tour. Right after lunch on River Street, that is.

And if you happen to hear other travelers wonder about what tour they should take, you will let them know about your latest discovery, the Geogad mobile tour site.

Shout out to Andrew Chen for reading the Internet so that I don’t have to. Specifically he found a great study published by Hitwise. They keep track of the traffic to about a million web sites daily and ranked those in the travel destination and accommodation content area based on the total amount of US traffic. The end result is a list of the top 10 web sites in this area. Of the 10, 7 are for hotel chains. The remainder are TripAdvisor, the U.S. National Park Service and Six Flags. Some people might make a good argument that TripAdvisor is actually heavily used as a way to get info on accommodations.

The main point is that these sites are used primarily by travelers before they travel. Once they get to their destinations, there is usually little reason to look for hotels if they have already reserved one. These results suggest that travelers are not making as much use of the Internet after they arrive at their destination as you might expect. You would expect that travelers would make more use of the Internet in unfamiliar surroundings such as when they travel.

Travelers are not using the Internet as much after they arrive because they are not familiar with which local web sites can give them the best local info. Instead, they still rely on conciercers and local travel desk staff for recommendations and local information.

As the mobile web becomes easier to use and more local information gets cataloged on the web by latitude and longitude, travelers will begin to look to the mobile web for immediate local info.

Geogad is to its part to make the mobile web richer for travelers every day.

FierceWireless posted a story about two fun sounding mobile apps that can make traveling to Vegas even better. Mobile Concierge lets you view shows and showtimes on your mobile device. You can even buy your tickets with it. If you don’t want to waste any trees, you can have your tickets electronically downloaded to you phone using Box Office in Your Pocket.

From the limited press release, it sounds like the Mobile Concierge is a mobile Internet site that adapts to a variety of phones. The Box Office in Your Pocket is not a clear. Since it is a separate program that accepts an email to display a 2-D bar code, I would guess that it is a downloadable app, but it would be a lot cleaner if it was part of the Mobile Conceirge web site.

If anyone gets a chance to check these mobile apps out, share your experience with the entire class.

I attended a talk given by Feng Deng sponsored by HYSTA and held in the Fenwick and West auditorium on Saturday, May 10. The Fenwick and West auditorium  is a great setting for a talk. I had wanted to get there early to network, but I found the front door closed. Turns out that the entrance was around the corner. I have been to this building several times, but I did not realize that the other entrance existed. By the time that I found it, I was only able to network a little. But I did manage to get a place to sit, which was a major accomplishment.

Feng Deng is best known for selling his company, NetScreen Technologies, after it went public on the NASDAQ to Juniper Networks for $4 billion. HYSTA organization itself has an extensive managerial structure and several big names in its board including Feng Deng. The weird thing is that this organization was founded back in 1999. For such a young organization, it is very advanced.

Feng Deng is now a VC in China where he has been living for the last few years. He joked that his English was a little rusty, but I had no problems hearing or understanding him where I was in the back of the room. The only problem with the talk was that there were far more people attending the talk than the room could hold. The talk itself was 2 hours long with another hour scheduled for questions. I think that it would have been better to reduce the time for the talk to 1 hour to keep more focused.

Feng Deng was both enthusiastic and honest about the economy in China. What he said, I have heard from other sources. For example, he does not think that a recession in the US will slow China down. Most Chinese businesses are focused on the huge, growing Chinese market and have not spent much time or effort to become a global brand. The biggest issue of the US and world economy that will affect China will be in the cost of food, energy and overall inflation. Inflation is becoming a huge problem in China.

One area that China still needs to work on in getting her people to be innovative. But innovation is really the freedom to try new things and to make mistakes without fear. That is something that the people of China probably do not feel that they can safely do. For example, I read a story published by a business writer visiting China. His hotel had given him a free bottle of wine. He had brought the wine to a restaurant and asked to have it with his meal. This variation from their standard business practice was too much for the Chinese wait staff and management. After much discussion on the subject, the writer was told that he could not drink wine brought from outside the restaurant. When in doubt, the restaurant management chose to take the safest course.

Doing a bit of traveling this week.  It is certainly nice to get out of the office.

Some good news from the Katrina hit area: Mississippi is closer to linking its Gulf Coast via highway.  Yesterday, the Bay Bridge that crosses the Bay of St. Louis was opened with a great celebration.  The bridge is actually only half done.  The completed bridge will consist of two different spans, each with two lanes for a total of 4 lanes.  Yesterday’s opening was for a single span which will have two lane of traffic flowing in opposite directions until the second span is ready.  This second span is set to open in November.

The real deal behind this bridge celebration is that it is a chance to celebrate surviving Katrina and one of the most positive and tangible signs that Mississippi is rebuilding.  This area of the world really loves a party.  The people of Southern Mississippi really deserve their party.  They have worked hard for it.  
Technorati tags: Bay Bridge, opening celebration, Bridge Fest, Mississippi, Katrina, rebuilding