LocalCrowd bids to connect travellers and locals

A new platform called LocalCrowd is helping tourists get useful information from locals.

A new platform called LocalCrowd is helping tourists get useful information from locals. The Dutch startup provides travellers and locals with tools to easily share information.

Questions and answers can be plugged into the site’s Google maps layer, allowing people to get specific location-based tips on what to do, where to eat and what to avoid. The platform also integrates with Facebook making it easy to share travel tips with friends.

Jorrit Baerends, founder of LocalCrowd, says: “We’re doing our best to give travellers the possibility of a true local experience. I think that with our current set of tools, travellers can finally find the information from locals they need. Instead of asking random locals in the street, you can plan your trip in advance with local information. And you’re able to collect background information about this local.”

To encourage locals to share their knowledge, LocalCrowd awards points and badges to users who provide the most useful answers. The hope is to get users away from the traditional tourist traps and clichés and help them experience local culture.