AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands – WYSE Travel Confederation, the authority on global youth and student travel, is calling for the public to vote for the finalists in its App Yap Contest on Facebook. The contest’s goal is to find the best app in the youth travel industry, a global market worth US$173 billion a year – more than the annual revenue of Facebook (US$4.3 billion).
The top 10 entries have been posted to the contest’s official Facebook page for the public to vote. The finalists include: Triposo Travel, HostelWorld, TripLingo, and WeTrip. The entire list of finalists can be found here.
The public vote is now open and runs until August 31. A panel of judges of industry experts, which includes renowned travel blogger, Kash Bhattacharya, (full list of judges can be found here), will select the ultimate winner. The winner will be announced on September 21 at the Global Youth Travel Awards at the World Youth & Student Travel Conference (WYSTC).
The WYSTC App Yap contest was created to be in line with young travelers’ heavy use of social media. According to travel industry statistics compiled by funsherpa.com, 50 percent of travel companies surveyed said travel bookings were made through social media, and 85 percent of all leisure travelers now use mobile phones while on the road – both proving that the travel app market is massive and continuing to grow.
Said Steve Lowy, Founder, umi Group, who is one of the contest judges: “Technology is being driven by how young people interact with the products and services that are out there. The youth travel industry is constantly coming up with great new ways to get young travelers to interact before, during, or after their travels. Seeing these great new apps shows how the youth travel industry is the driver of technology trends in travel.”
The WYSTC 2012 App Yap Contest winner will receive a prize worth over US$5,000, including 2 passes for WYSTC 2013 and a dedicated online marketing campaign.
