Context

Withlocals is a travel-tech platform offering private, locally-guided tours across 250+ cities worldwide, built on values of locality, authenticity, and sustainable travel.

Problem

The problem: their revenue depended on the same overcrowded landmarks that over-tourism was making increasingly incompatible with those values. The question was whether Withlocals could redirect tourist behaviour toward less-frequented areas without compromising conversion, and whether that could become a competitive advantage rather than just a moral stance.

Design response

Drawing on systemic, behavioural, and strategic design frameworks - and grounded in 12 customer interviews, internal data analysis, and workshops with Withlocals employees - I proposed two interconnected strategies.

The core strategy reframed the platform's logic from location-based discovery to theme-based exploration: "Hallmark Experiences" organised around cultural phenomena rather than landmarks, each bundling multiple locations and activity variants under one thematic idea - naturally surfacing less-frequented areas as compelling alternatives rather than fallbacks.

The supportive strategy introduced transparent destination metrics (crowdedness levels, sustainability scores, authenticity ratings) to close the information gap suppressing demand for off-beaten-path locations.

Impact

Together, the strategies were designed to shift booking behaviour while reinforcing Withlocals' brand values of originality and localhood - with identified business upside in booking conversion optimisation, reduced dependence on commission-heavy partner platforms, and a differentiation position in a market with no direct comparable.