There seems to be no slowing down in the desire for travel companies to launch (or reboot) applications for a population that’s increasingly tuned into mobile devices. Here’s a look a three new free travel apps—beyond the new JetBlue app we wrote about a few weeks ago—that recently have hit the market.

AFAR
The media company with the gorgeous glossy travel magazine that launched in late 2009 recently released an iPhone app with a focus around Highlights. These bits of travel inspiration include a photo, title, description and location of a recommended travel experience. The app launched with 4,000 Highlights, with more being added daily. There’s also a contest running through the end of March for users to upload their highlights for a chance to win a trip to India. AFAR says that a version for Android phones will be released soon. Now how about some wildlife photos to inspire me to go on an adventurous safari in Africa?

TravelZoo
One of the earliest travel deal sites on the Internet, TravelZoo has launched a mobile website and added an Android app to join its existing iPhone app offering (introduced in August 2011). Mobile users can quickly access TravelZoo’s traditional Top 20 weekly deals listing, Local Deals, Entertainment Deals, Travel Deals and Last Minute discounts, which is not a category found on the company’s main website. The Android app features local deals based on users’ detected location. According to Tnooz, 17.5 percent of traffic to TravelZoo.com was already coming from mobile devices.

Travelocity
Last-minute deals for travel bookings on mobile devices—especially for hotel rooms—are gaining in popularity. Travelocity already went after this market last year when it enhanced its iPhone app for same-day hotel deals and some local information. The company has now launched an iPad app that offers additional discounts for flights, hotels and rental cars at rates through the app that are better than what’s available on the Travelocity website. In addition, app users get daily mobile-only deals. They also can access their Travelocity accounts through the app, which can auto-fill in purchase information to speed the close of the transaction.

Photo: AFAR

Related posts:
JetBlue Debuts iPhone App, New Web and Mobile Sites
Travelocity Upgrades iPhone App Based on Same-Day Hotel Bookings
There’s an App for What?

Dear Dan Orum and the AFAR Media team,

Dan Orum & Team present at the Travel Innovation Summit 2010

You presented some interesting ideas at the Travel Innovation Summit!  Similar to the Critics Circle, I wish you had told us about the magazine with 100k subscribers up front.  I see that you are using an existing media property with presumably engaged subscribers to jump start this online community (or whatever you want to call it).  That immediately lends more credibility to your idea.

Here’s my opinion for what it’s worth:

1.  We don’t need another specialized travel community out there.  There have been plenty of people who have tried that:  TripWolf, TripSay, WAYN, TripBuddy…many many more.  I think some of them (like WAYN and TripBuddy) are profitable at a small level.  Great businesses to own, but not really venture backable plays.  And these communities have just not taken over the world.

2.  eHarmony for Travel doesn’t make sense.  The idea that there are 30 different traveler profiles, according to the Cornell School of Hospitality, seems very intriguing and that there is something you could do with that.  But think about it,  eHarmony is about picking a lifelong partner.  AFAR is about finding other travelers who like the same kind of travel.  What burning need does your target customer have that would get them to fill out a survey?  Look at the dating space.  Dating sites are either about (a) getting married, or (b) getting laid.  Without claiming any particular expertise in either category of site, I’d observe that the “getting laid” variety of dating sites don’t ask people to fill out surveys.  Why would I do so to get some travel advice?

I love the idea of building a passionate subscription business delivered both through print and online.  I can imagine great businesses serving niches of travelers that would get them to pay monthly subscription fees for content, deals, and services delivered to mobile devices, tablets, and on the Web.  Since you are focused on experiential travel and unique travel experiences in your core business, I suspect that it will have to do with helping “experiential travel addicts” self identify themselves and get their fix between their big excursions.  I’d focus on physical meet-ups in top 5-10 cities with such people, local clubs, cause-related marketing efforts, and other things that help cultivate the interests and expertise of true travel addicts.

Anyway, just random thoughts.  Congrats again on your presentation and putting such interesting ideas out there to share with the travel community.