Roote Trails is an Indonesian mobile travel app that focuses on encouraging sustainable tourism and increasing accessibility to tourist attractions and local businesses. The design of the app grew out of co-founder Anindya Kenyo’s desire to tackle two issues in tourism: ineffective government promotion and the difficulties travelers face when searching for relevant information.
So far, the Indonesian government’s promotional campaigns have had only a limited impact, such as the “Ten New Balis” project which aimed to boost high-end tourism but neglected tourists with more budgets. modest. And, travelers who want to chart their own routes often feel that the information available online does not meet their expectations. Roote Trails fills these gaps by promoting tourism through gamification and user engagement, as well as providing accurate and comprehensive destination information.
The app provides detailed information to tourists to guide them along various routes, trails and places of interest. It includes textual and audio content, including anecdotes, all of which are streamed to the user during their journey. Roote Trails hopes to create a meaningful user experience through detailed route guidance and multimedia content.
In general, Roote Trails suggests and maps routes, accommodations, dining establishments, and other amenities that travelers might need, and includes detailed information about each location. Its range of multimedia content adds an additional dimension to user journeys. This form of user engagement is the first of its kind in the Indonesian tourism industry.
In addition to shaping travel experiences that are meant to be easy to access, Roote Trails places a strong emphasis on sustainable tourism. Its content encourages travelers to explore nature, like Ranca Upas, a scenic campsite in Ciwidey, and Nusa Penida, a scuba diving paradise in southeast Bali. By offering this service, Kenya hopes to generate greater interest in ecotourism while preventing the environmental degradation that occurs when new tourist attractions are built from the ground up.
Roote Trails has 19 routes in its library so far, including food tours, sightseeing expeditions, agriculture-themed explorations, or walks along historic sites.
Overall, the Roote Trails team champions environmental awareness and has imbued that attitude into the app. At the same time, multimedia content serves as a means of preserving local history, culture and heritage through storytelling. Its promotion of local businesses is a boon for local MSMEs. In addition, by promoting sustainable tourism, Roote Trails sets itself apart from other travel-oriented projects that have been developed in Indonesia.
Roote Trails was among the top ten finalists at Alibaba Cloud x KrASIA Global Startup Accelerator Indonesia’s second day of demonstration held on December 21.
