7 Million Travellers Connect with Else Globe App in 2015

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Dec 22, 2014, 09:00 ET

AMSTERDAM and SYDNEY, December 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

New 4.0 app for meeting people used by travel companies all over the world

The new Else Globe app, which allows travellers, backpackers, students and au-pairs to connect and meet each other as a group, will be used by 7 million people in 43 countries in 2015. The new 4.0 version will be launched next week; 40 larger and smaller travel organisations and companies have partnered up with Else in order to spread the app among their clients.

It involves companies like Greyhound, AIFS, ISX, Nomads, SayTC, Britannia Students and WEP. Together they serve over 7 million travellers a year, who get to download the free app. All 40 travel companies will get their own branded version of the app. The app allows travellers all over the world to find each other and meet up. For instance, to go to a bar or a concert, to study or go surfing together or to organise a group trip. When the app is offered by their bus company or hostel they can find out which other travellers are nearby.

"Else is not a dating-app, so there would not be any nerve-racking one-on-one situations like you would have on Tinder. You can invite a group of people to have fun and do nice things together, and make new friends while you are at it. There are always fellow travellers who would like to travel or hang out with you. That is the reason why the app's users are enthusiastic from day one," says Ruud Winder of Else Globe.

The app is used in numerous ways. Joey Smith arranged a "rideshare" within half an hour, so he could drive with Louise and Cathy from Melbourne to Sydney. Marise Bulchar invited 30 fellow travellers and had a great night at a hostel bar. Lisa Vendrich met three other au-pairs in her city and goes out with them on a regular basis. Rodney got together with some locals to explore the nightlife in Porto.

Ruud Winder and Mark Wittebrood (co-founder and travel enthusiast) designed the first message board for travellers in 1997 and at the beginning of the century they launched one of the first global social networks for travellers: BackpackersOnly.com. With a strong team of programmers and designers they developed Else over a year ago, creating the first app enabling travellers to connect. For that they received an award from the World Youth Student and Educational (WYSE) Travel Confederation.

New branded Else apps will be launched every week, attracting more than 500 to 1000 users a week. Winder expects that the use of his app will increase enormously in 2015 due to the new partnerships.

The new 4.0 version has a group chat feature, making contact between travellers even easier. From next week the app is available at the App- and Playstore.

"Our app is not a machine or just a piece of software. We are hosting an environment where travellers meet each other. We feel responsible for them. Like they are living in our house," says Mark Wittebrood. "We keep the app as clean as possible. That means no spam from 'exotic girls' with dodgy requests, or from fake travellers pushing an ad for new sports shoes. Only likable requests from nice people around you."

More information: http://www.elseglobe.com

The Else Globe app is free and downloadable

iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/else/id839661315?ls=1&mt=8

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.codebrothrs.elseapp

For more information, visit http://www.elseglobe.com or follow Else on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Elsetravel and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Elseapp?fref=ts.

Press photo (free of use): Tim Visser

More images and screenshots are available at:

http://www.elseglobe.com/press

Examples of branded versions:

AuPairsAround

iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/au-pairs-around/id918944446?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D2

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.codebrothrs.aupairsaround&hl=nl