Web 2.0 and Travel

Charles Leocha at Tripso has this great article on Web 2.0 and the future of travel sites. I combed through it and picked out the sites he recommends which are of the most use to adventurers. Of course I should point out that most of the services offered on these sites are also available on (ahem..) bootsnall.com. But it’s always cool to see different approaches. Here’s what Charles recommends:

Yahoo now leads the charge to allow travelers to share itineraries and information that they have collected and created. IgoUgo.com, launched four years ago, provides many of the same community functions but without the itinerary sharing. It focuses on sharing message boards, destination information, reviews and travel journals.

Some interesting things on this one. For example, if you look up the U.S. destinations that people have shared about, the most popular “states” are Alaska and Washington, D.C. I have absolutely no idea what that says about tourism in this country. Charles also recommends:

Two new entrants, RealTravel.com and Gusto.com, have developed competing sites that allow users to plan trips, read shared reviews, write blogs and publish scrapbooks of travel experiences. These sites are based on the premise that travelers are interested in following the travel experiences of others and perhaps actually following in their footsteps — listening to their opinions and using other people’s itineraries as a start to travel planning.