MelaliTraveler

I would like to create an online community of travelers by starting a site that link them with local guides throughout emerging countries. The main goals are
-to help travelers gain more of a local experience rather than a holiday full of tourist traps,
-help the local economy by giving jobs to trustworthy and passionate local guides in these developing countries
-match traveler and experience/guide
-develop cultural exchange and awareness

Local guides are different from “Tour guides”. Tour guides work for a travel agency and are required to show tourists the ‘tourist package”. Local guides on the contrary, show travelers the ‘local’ experience, something not offered in travel books or travel agencies: checking out the nightlife scene, eating a meal with a local family, attending a wedding, shopping where the locals go... and of course a bit of sightseeing here and there.
The nature of ‘excursions’ or ‘experiences’ offered in this site important will be either, raw, edgy, or relaxed, educational- and adapted to the local flow. This site will be bring the true energy and spice of travelling! Mass tourism is becoming more and more oversaturated, and this project responds to a demand of a niche market of ‘real travelers’

Before ITP, I used to live in Bali, an island that attracted millions of tourists from all over the world. When my friends used to come and visit me, they would always ask me to show them the true local experiences. I was amazed by their positive reactions. Over time, many friends came to visit and i could not always take them around, so I linked them with local guides who would show them the 'real' Bali- local food, local dances, village life etc. I was still amazed by the positive response, and what resulted was a 2 way cultural exchange: my friends learned about the local balinese culture and the locals learned about a foreign culture.
With all the technology I learnt in ITP, how could I make a site to do what I did back in Bali? This is how I started MelaliTraveler.

young adults, adults, 25-35

This is how it would work: you want to travel to Bali for example. You go on to the site and you would search for the type of experience you want. You fill out a questionnaire- name, age, arrival date, your interests, your budget, what you experience you are looking for in Bali…then you click on a submit button and it would redirect and match you to profiles of local guides meeting your criteria: their photo, information, a brief summary of what they specialize in and the type of local experiences they have to offer. When you choose a guide, you click on their photo, this will direct you to their homepage- and this page gives you more detail about the guide: different pictures of him/her and his/her guests, and most important, their references or ratings. By creating an online profile of each of the guides it will give more of a ‘personal feel’. Real people, true experience, happy traveler and happy locals!