Lonely Planet Buys TouristEye Mobile App for Trip-Planning

Lonely Planet acquired a mobile app for trip-planning, TouristEye, and Daniel Houghton, Lonely Planet COO, says “we will work closely together to marry our technology and communities how and where it makes sense.”

Houghton indicated that the acquisition wasn’t merely designed to hire the TouristEye team, which will remain in place.

“We see value in the team and their accomplishments, as well as the product they created,” Houghton says. “We are always working to solve the problems of the traveler as well as inspiring ore people to travel and TouristEye fits well with that strategy.”

The TouristEye Android and iOS apps enable mobile users to collect activities and destinations to create a wish list, and advertisers hit them up with special offers.

TouristEye claims more than 500,000 people have used the app, which integrates information from Yelp and Foursquare, and its text, photos and maps can be accessed offline to avoid data charges.

Houghton declined to provide terms of the deal, and said “we are working through those details now” on how TouristEye would be integrated with Lonely Planet’s assets.