Smartac Group China to launch travel information, booking app to Macau

Macau will be the first of nine travel destinations that Hong Kong-listed Smartac Group China Holdings Ltd. will launch a mobile phone application for that enables tourists to access travel related information on the destination while providing free wireless online service, the company’s executive director Jason Kwan Che Hang told Hong Kong media.
About August, Macau could see the launching of a travel mobile phone application that allows users to search for tourism information of the city, along with booking services for local restaurants as well as a free wireless online access function, Hong Kong’s Chinese-language media reported on Thursday, quoting Mr. Kwan.
Smartac Group China will sign contracts with telecommunications service providers and advertisers in the selected travel destinations to enable the free wireless online access service as offered by the mobile phone app, which it hopes to sustain via advertising revenue.
This mobile phone application will be launched in nine tourism destinations by next year, according to Mr. Kwan, with Macau, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea leading the charge this year.
The Smartac executive director said he expected to see this application downloaded 30 million to 50 million times by the end of next year via a service that in particular targets Mainland Chinese visitors travelling abroad.
Mr. Kwan’s company is known for its wifi service offers for passengers using the major railway stations on the Mainland.
A subsidiary of the company on the Mainland has won the bid to install, conduct post-installation maintenance and operation service of wifi systems in a total of over 350 railway stations operated by Guangzhou Railway (Group) Corporation and Beijing Railway Administration.
Through the access to Smartac’s wifi system, the preferences of passengers for destinations, hobbies and interests are collected and analysed by the company in order to provide them with ‘tailor-made’ information such as tourist spots or retail coupons upon their arrival at their travel destination, Smartac said in its 2014 annual report.
This service is enabled by Smartac’s strategic alliance with wifi provider Ruckus Wireless Inc. and Ali Cloud of Alibaba Group.
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