Wikitravel

For the Wikimedia Foundation travel guide, see Wikivoyage.

Wikitravel
The Wikitravel logo includes a stylized blue-grey compass rose
Type of site
Wiki travel guide with media repository
Available inInitially English, now also 20 other languages: Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, Dutch, Esperanto, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish[1]
OwnerInternet Brands
Created byEvan Prodromou
Michele Ann Jenkins
URLwikitravel.org
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
LaunchedJuly 2003; 21 years ago (2003-07)
Current statusActive
Content license
CC BY-SA
Written inMediaWiki software, made in PHP

Wikitravel is a web-based collaborative travel guide based on the wiki format and owned by Internet Brands. It was most active from 2003 through 2012, when most of its editing community left and brought their contributions to the nonprofit Wikivoyage guide.[2]

The site was launched by Evan Prodromou and Michele Ann Jenkins in 2003[3][4] as a multilingual effort aiming to cover all the globe's destinations. In 2006, Internet Brands bought the trademark and servers and later introduced advertising to the website.[5] This move met opposition from users, with many German and Italian editors leaving in December 2006 for a newly established wiki, Wikivoyage.

In 2006, Wikitravel launched a free media repository known as Wikitravel Shared, and in 2007, it received a Webby Award for Best Travel Website.[6] The same year, Wikitravel's founders began Wikitravel Press, a now-defunct project that published printed travel guides based on the website's content.[7] The first print guides were released on February 1, 2008.

In 2012, in response to sustained dissatisfaction with Internet Brands' commercialization and technical support, a large portion of the editing community, including the founders, left and transferred their contributions to the Wikivoyage travel guide, which was relaunched as a Wikimedia Foundation–hosted project in January 2013. Since then, Wikivoyage has surpassed Wikitravel in edit count, page count, and global viewership.[8][2]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference statistics was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Douglas, Nick (March 13, 2018). "Wikivoyage Is the Travel Guide to Everywhere". Lifehacker. Archived from the original on June 23, 2020. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference turnbull was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference connell was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference tedeschi1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference coyle was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference doctorow was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "wikivoyage.org Competitive Analysis, Marketing Mix and Traffic". www.alexa.com. Archived from the original on May 26, 2010. Retrieved November 26, 2019.