GforT Case Study (Gujarat for Tourism)
Client & Project Overview
GforT (Gujarat for Tourism) is a platform built to promote tourism in the state of Gujarat. The goal was to create an interactive, user-friendly solution for tourists, travel agencies, and tourism bodies to discover, plan, and experience the many attractions Gujarat has to offer — from heritage sites and wildlife to festivals, culture, & local cuisine.
Challenges / Needs
- Information Disparity: Tourist info (attraction detail, timings, transport, lodging etc.) was fragmented across many sources; hard for tourists to find all needed info in one place.
- Poor Itinerary Planning Tools: Many tourists found it difficult to plan trips efficiently (which places to visit, route optimization, durations).
- Offline / Connectivity Issues: Some remote heritage/natural areas have weak connectivity; tourists need some information offline or cached.
- Language & Localization: Need for multilingual content (Gujarati, Hindi, English etc.), local culture sensitivity, contact info, maps etc.
- Engagement & Updates: Festivals, events, seasonal attractions change; need to keep content updated, engage tourists with latest info, promotions etc.
- Navigation & Discovery: Users should be able to discover nearby attractions, places of interest, restaurants, lodging etc.
Goals & Objectives
- Build a centralized tourism app/web portal that aggregates and presents information about attractions, heritage sites, wildlife, festivals etc.
- Enable features like interactive maps, itinerary planner, nearby places suggestion.
- Support offline access for key content or caching.
- Provide content in multiple languages.
- Allow management/admin to update events, attractions; schedule info etc.
- Increase engagement: more tourists planning trips via the platform, longer time spent, more content consumption.
Our Role & Scope
- Full stack architecture: backend, API, content management system for tourism content updates
- UI/UX design focusing on intuitive discovery, route maps, clean imagery
- Mobile / responsive frontend for tourists (mobile app or mobile-friendly web)
- Features built: attraction detail pages (photos, history, directions, opening hours), itinerary planner, map / geolocation features, lodging & food directory, event calendar, search & filters
- Offline/cached content (for remote areas)
- Localization: multiple languages, local info, contact details
- Admin dashboard for content updates, event scheduling, analytics
Solution & Key Features
- Attractions Directory: Heritage sites, wildlife, beaches, temples etc., with descriptions, photos, timings, entry fees, how to reach etc.
- Interactive Map & Geo-Location: Tourist can see attractions on map, find nearest ones, route suggestions between places.
- Itinerary Planner: Users can select places to visit, generate optimal routes, adjust based on time, interests.
- Events & Festival Calendar: Up-to-date info on upcoming festivals, fairs, local events.
- Lodging & Food Recommendations: Hotels, guesthouses, local restaurants etc. with ratings, contacts.
- Offline / Cached Modes: Key info available even without network, for remote areas.
- Search & Filters: By category (heritage, nature, adventure), by location, by distance, by rating.
- Localization & Language Support: English, Gujarati, Hindi etc. as required.
Challenges & How We Overcame Them
- Keeping data current: Festivals and events often change date; solution: admin panel with easy update workflows, possibly crowdsourced feedback / flagging.
- Offline capability: For remote areas, map and content availability offline; used caching approaches, minimal data footprint, compress images.
- Localization complexities: Ensuring accurate translation, cultural context, correct address / contact information.
- Map/geolocation accuracy: Ensuring GPS & map service works well in remote/rural terrain; fallback when map API connectivity is weak.
- Performance & UX across devices: Varied network speeds; optimized for speed, lazy loading of images, compressed assets.
Design & UX Approach
- Visual rich design: lots of high-quality photos, immersive visuals of heritage, culture, landscapes
- Clear navigation: home → categories → map / search / itinerary etc.
- Mobile-first design: many tourists use phones in travel; ensure fast performance and clean UI on mobile.
- Focus on usability in remote situations: easy caching or offline reading, map usage, ability to view “how to reach” even when offline.
- Interactive elements: map pins, event notifications, push alerts (if app) for festival reminders etc.
Results & Impact
- Number of downloads (if app) / web users increased by X% over baseline
- Increase in user-session time / pages per visit (people spent more time exploring attractions)
- Itinerary planner usage: number of plans created by users rose significantly
- Increase in engagement during festival periods (calendar usage)
- Positive user feedback on ease of planning trips / discovering attractions
- Reduced support queries or fewer complaints about missing info
Key Learnings & Future Plans
- Always involve cross-department stakeholders early to capture all workflows & requirements.
- Data quality early matters: invest in cleaning and mapping before migration.
- Modular design helps: you can roll out core modules first, then add advanced features.
- Ongoing training & feedback is critical to adoption and continuous improvement.
- Some future features could include AI/ML forecasting, mobile apps, more integrations (CRM, e-commerce, etc.), multilingual support, deeper analytics.
Visuals / Assets Ideas
- Screenshots of attraction detail pages, maps, itinerary planner, event calendar
- Map views showing clusters of attractions & nearby points of interest
- Before vs after user journeys (e.g. how a tourist used to plan vs now with GforT)
- Graphs: growth of user engagement over time, heatmaps of popular locations visited
- Photos of heritage sites, festivals etc.