A US trip planning tool, developed by the American Automobile Association (AAA), has been released to non-paying members as competition in the web travel industry hots up.
The TripTik Travel Planner allows travellers to plan their journeys across the US right down to the smallest detail and offers suggestions as to which attractions would suit the user.
Web browsers can also make their own map to use while in an unknown area of the country.
As motorists have become accustomed to planning their journeys on the internet through competing companies' tools, AAA felt it had to open up its planner to the public in order to compete in a developing marketplace.
"People don't need a membership number to access Yahoo or MapQuest," an AAA spokesman told SpokesmanReview.
"We're eliminating that barrier to be more competitive."
Such tools are an effective marketing tool as not only do they draw extra traffic to a business' website but they also act as a 'sticky' advertising platform, which helps to increase sales and click-through rates to friendly sites.
