Thursday, July 25, 2013

For cities competing for tourists: Invest in free WiFi

Taiwan is giving out free access to public WiFi to tourists (here). With international mobile data roaming costs expected to remain high, free WiFi access will soon emerge as a key component of a city's infrastructure, and thus its ability to attract tourists. 

On my recent travel, everyday I looked forward to get connected to free hotel WiFi in the evening. Not only it helps to catch up on work and social networks, it helps to plan for travel everyday. We could explore new places, new restaurants, and new events in a city. Overall the travel experience was much richer.

Cities looking to attract tourists - invest in WiFi (directly or by giving incentives to hotels, restaurants and other public places)!