Once upon a time, in the past century, independent travellers interested in culture and the environment would consult books and travel guides to plan their itineraries. Then came the Internet, then apps, and more recently AI, which, some hope and others fear, will change, perhaps concentrate in a few hands, the whole information, search/research, sales and promotion ecosystem in all industries and sectors, not just Tourism. Still, the most educated travellers, and travel professionals do not discount any old or new information form or source, be it a book, a travel guide, a website or an app and are always on the lookout for new arrivals. One such arrival I recently came across is SmartGuide, a new Android and iOS app. 

The free version is user-friendly and inviting, with few ads and enough features to help you plan your visit, with its most useful aspect being the map. The sites appear on the map as small photos (based on mapy.com) so it's easy to orient yourself when arriving or planning your visit to a new town. You can also add favourites and create a profile. 

The paid version currently costs EUR 19.99 per annum (with a free 3 day trial) and also enables you to download destination guides for offline access. It also includes an AI Guide for replying to your questions and producing custom tours, either round tours or from A to B. The AI guide unfortunately does not provide direct website links when asked.  

The sites' descriptions are up to date, with a few odd exceptions ("site closed, will reopen in 2021") but there is a useful feature for reporting inaccuracies and suggesting improvements. The descriptions can be read by AI so as to produce an audio guide. Almost all site descriptions are produced by AI (the App is transparent about that) or from Wikipedia, and a small percentage comes from individual contributors, or businesses. This has advantages and disadvantages, so perhaps it would be great if in the future you could choose which source you would like to consult AI, Wikipedia or Contributors. The app claims to have the support of “6000+ local guides”, but not many of these seem to be active in terms of generating content for destinations, as opposed to the experiences they offer. 

In total there are 1387 destinations, mostly urban centres, and 27 languages. Europe seems to have the best coverage followed by the Americas, Oceania and parts of Asia including China. Among countries considered long-haul nature & wildlife tourism destinations one can find Costa Rica, Belize, Kenya and South Africa, but not yet Tanzania, Rwanda or Botswana. Major European capitals are well covered, while Czechia, where the company is based, has the best coverage. The good thing is you can see from the website which destinations are covered so far, at https://www.smart-guide.org/en/destinations/  and decide accordingly.

I tested the SmartGuide app extensively for my city, Athens and then did spot checks for some other familiar destinations. The experience was positive. In terms of the main sites of old Athens it includes nearly all of them, but only a few further from the centre. More or less the same applies to London and other cities. There appears to be a focus on city centres and city-based tours and activities. That said, many well known cultural and archaeological sites are covered along with national parks. It is unclear how a restaurant, a shop or a hotel can be included as very few seem to be. Maybe it’s not the intention of the App developers to include them. 

There is a useful search bar at the top and for each destination you get options to explore nearby places, nearby destinations, nearby countries, and experiences, which are bookable from the app. But the search bar does not have filters for searching sites and activities based on your interests. It only searches the titles of sites and experiences for keywords. Thus if for example, you enter 'Beer' you get "Beer in the Krkonose Mountains" but you will not see anything about Plzeň/Pilsen, the birthplace of legendary Pilsner beer. If you enter 'Rainforest, you get a chain of restaurants called, you guessed, “Rainforest. Beyond the app, the website of the app, https://www.smartguide.app/  is useful for travel content providers who can create digital and audio guides and share earnings with the platform. 

Overall, the SmartGuide app is already very useful for independent travellers and has the potential for greatness if more coverage and depth is added along with interest-based search options and an easy way to detect the more sustainable experiences. The developers may have to make a choice down the line, if they want to focus on turning this app into an excellent guide for independent travellers, or rather to a mainstream platform for booking tours, hotels and experiences - it would be difficult, but certainly not impossible, to achieve both.