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Dateline: October 11, 2010 ... Shanghai, China
Contact: Ken Chen
Phone: 86-021-31255894--604
Fax: 86-021-60911336
E-Mail: press@tourboarding.com
Web Address: http://www.TourBoarding.com
SHANGHAI, CHINA - October 11, 2010 - Based in Shanghai,
TourBoarding.com has introduced a travel barter model that utilizes
language fluency as a new form of travel currency that can be used in
China or anywhere in the developing world where people yearn to
improve their living circumstances via mastery of a second language
such as English.
Travelers who plan to visit China can use TourBoarding.com's bilingual
communication interface and travel barter platform to arrange a rich
variety of travel benefits from local hosts, such as home stay, tour
guiding, and Chinese language or cooking lessons. Instead of paying
cash for any of these services, travelers can pay by speaking their
native language to their hosts for two hours a day, to help them
achieve proficiency in their desired language. English is the most in
demand, but German, Japanese, and French are also highly sought by the
Chinese.
"Unlike other sites that bring travelers and hosts together,
TourBoarding is the first site of its kind to offer a structured
framework for travelers and hosts to barter directly with one another
for services and make specific arrangements according to their own
needs," explained co-founder Ken Chen. The framework is also designed
to be flexible enough so that travelers can deviate from the framework
and self-design an a la carte travel experience according to their
individual tastes and preferences. TourBoarding facilitates the
searching, communication, and arranging process, but leaves the final
details to hosts and travelers who are responsible for making any
actual exchange happen.
TourBoarding is also the first site to offer traveler and host
exchanges that are grounded on the principle of reciprocity: both
traveler and host give and receive a valuable benefit in the exchange.
Both have an equally vested interest in ensuring the success of the
exchange. To date, many TourBoarding exchanges have been completed
with positive testimonials posted on the site, demonstrating that
TourBoarding's travel barter model is sound and viable.
Licensing opportunities are available so that this unique "high-impact
social benefit travel model" can be replicated in other developing
countries.
Even though TourBoarding is fairly new, it has become extremely
popular with the Chinese who are anxious to use the site to meet
foreigners they can host. They have signed up at a brisk pace ever
since the site was officially launched on May 1, 2010. There are now
thousands of hosts from all over China, from the first-tier cities to
the remote towns rarely frequented by foreigners.
TourBoarding's travel barter model encourages diverse people to come
together and share their personal assets by engaging in mutually
rewarding exchanges. In recent years, there has been a distinct shift
with increasing momentum from a culture of hyper-consumption to a more
affordable, neighborly, and environmentally friendly culture of
sharing.
Neal Gorenflo, visionary publisher of Shareable magazine, dubs this
growing movement "the new sharing economy."
According to Mr. Gorenflo, "Technologies that help people share in the
real world are taking center stage. This is the decade when we answer
the question, 'how much can we share?' People are sharing cars,
houses, expensive electronics, and more driven by new technology,
cultural norms, and need." Examples are available at:
www.shareable.net
Those seeking more information, or wishing to arrange a TourBoarding
experience of their own, may visit www.TourBoarding.com
Media Relations Contact:
Ken Chen
B905, Tomson Centre, No.188, Zhangyang Road, Pudong,
Shanghai 200122, P.R. China
Tel: 86-021-31255894--604
Fax: 86-021-60911336
Email: press@tourboarding.com
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