Travel destinations database

[hoteldealsite]

I am looking for travel destination database for my website. Can any one tell me where to buy the database.

Thanks in advance

[dmorison]

If you're looking for a worldwide place name database, checkout:

NGA: Country Files

It's a collection of CSV files (one per country) containing place names, latitude, longitude etc. (see the link at the top of the page for the 200MB single download - that's compressed!!).

I'm afraid you won't really be able to handle the files in Excel - they're too big; and contain lots of info that you'll need to filter out, but all the fields are there to help you - for example the place classification - "P" is what you want (Populated Place).

SEO wise, there's a million websites using it (just google any of the unique place IDs) but if it's a database of place names you're after, hope it helps!

[hoteldealsite]

Hi Dmorison,

Many thanks for the info. I am checking them. Your info's are very useful.

[Alchemy]

Hi. If you are looking for travel destination data or any other databases / files concerning the travel industry, we may be able to help you. As a marketing solutions company, we have access to a whole range of information or data that can be profile to match any direct targeted audiences you may be looking for.

The best thing to do, is give me a call on: 08707 606 712 or send me an email direct : scott.tanfield@alchemymarketingsolutions.co.uk where we can discuss any requirements you may have.

If you want to check out our website please also do for more information: www.alchemymarketingsolutions.com

Kind regards,

Scott @ Alchemy.

[Flightmapping]

200Meg sounds like a lot to deal with. If you have the CMS to spew out that kind of data then fine, but you might want to start much smaller. We tend to take the 80/20 approach, rather randomly blitz the walls with sh*t & see what sticks.

Naturally, I will say that one of the key "urban status symbols" is having an airport - that will get you down to 3-10,000 or so, depending on which lists you use. Out of these, there are only about 500 cities which are of interest to the UK traveller. If you want to whittle your list down further, try looking up "World City" on Wikipedia, and see if you can attack that list with your own niche approach.

Hope this helps, or at least gives you a different angle to consider.

Ps - Should also add that the CIA have quite a good database of countries, which you can use copyright free - just take some of it with a super-sized pinch of salt, especially the entry for Cuba!

[monty]

Originally Posted by Flightmapping Ps - Should also add that the CIA have quite a good database of countries, which you can use copyright free - just take some of it with a super-sized pinch of salt, especially the entry for Cuba!

It's not just Cuba, take all of it as a starting point at best and keep in mind it could be misleading. Having said that, they have improved it a lot recently.

<aside>

If you looked at many countries in the past you'd think they were dictatorships - you needed to look at the UK entry to understand why. Until recently the UK was listed with (essentially):

"Elections: None."
"Head of State: HM Queen Elisabeth II (heriditery)"
"Head of Government: Prime Minister (direct appointment of Queen)"

With a very small footnote saying: "A popular vote is held and the Head of State usually appoints a Prime Minister in line with this, but does not have to."

Given how many US school children must use this database for projects it's little wonder that Americans take a while to 'get' how our systems work in practice - and that 'reserved powers' are NEVER used, they are just a structure to allow the system work with a depoliticised head of state.

Well many other territories had similarly misleading entries which US or other users then believed - until they read an entry for a place closer to home (that they knew something about and knew was essentially democratic) to realise it can be a tad misleading.

But it has improved a lot recently.
</aside>

[lowndsy]

There's a whole bunch of csv files here: Pocket Info .
Not actually designed for our use, but very handy - country lists, travel guides, dialing codes etc in a whole heap of formats.