In the last couple of years, I have come to appreciate street art. I now go out of my way to see street art and even go on street art walking tours if they are offered. There are so many reasons why people love street art and why it is becoming more popular or important for people from all walks of life. Street art is an important part of history and identity for many metropolises, and sometimes even has the ability to breathe life into communities.
People are starting to accept that the creative and talented people involved are seen as artists, not vandals. And that their work, however ‘urban’, is still worthy of being considered art. People are becoming more open-minded to urban and street art and appreciating where this art form has come from.
Here are the top reasons why Street art is important and why you should love street art.
1. Street art is freedom and diversity
Art is about expression, creativity, freedom, asking and raising questions, protesting, analyzing, and even beautifying. A way to step beyond convention. There’s freedom with putting work in the street. You don’t even need to be considered a ‘legitimate’ artist; don’t need to have thousands of fans, have a huge social media presence, be taken seriously by galleries, or be picked up by an artist agency. all over the world.
Street art is a very diverse form of expression for people from all over the world. There are street artists in nearly every country in the world who are influenced and inspired by a multitude of cultures and styles. This has resulted in a wide and diverse body of urban or street art found all over the world.
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2. Mystery & Intrigue
There are so many questions when you’re a street art lover! Who did it? Why did someone put this work there? What does it mean? Does it even mean anything?
But with the invention of Instagram, it’s now easier than ever to find artists’ official profiles and learn more about their work and why they do what they do. But a lot of street artists prefer to remain anonymous or use aliases for both privacy and legal reasons. There are also still artists who don’t even tag their work so the intrigue and mystery live on.
3. Political or Social Statements
Graffiti and street art have always had a history of being influenced by the present political and social issues. A lot of people have painted on the walls and buildings in their cities as a form of anonymous political protest.
Some political statements are quite controversial; scrawled illegally and boldly in various countries and for various reasons. When people feel they have no power or influence but want to express their anger, hatred or defiance towards political injustice, this kind of art happens. But it is still a peaceful kind of protest.
4. Colourful surroundings = Happier Life
Art in the street makes people happy and can cheer them up. Street art makes their day and their commute more interesting and adds character to what would otherwise just be grey and boring. Art reminds people to feel alive. It’s there to beautify a space. It wakes people up, inspires and motivates them. And sometimes it can make people think.
It may have some broader social commentary, or just be there to bring some chaos to the establishment. Street art takes the ‘normal’ and makes it a thousand times more interesting. Even if you live in poverty, there’s something about bright colors and beautiful art that seems to fill the area with a contagious, buoyant optimism.
5. Sense of Community
Street art is important to keep urban areas and their residents energized and inspired. In some areas, artists and building owners come together to foster the creation of artwork that can be viewed as beautifying and reviving a city, rather than destroying it.
In some cities, independent graffiti murals are designed and implemented by artists with a personal connection to the neighborhood in which they are installed. In many cases, these pieces are created with the permission of the building owner. This relationship can then help develop positive interactions between businesses and members of their community. It is a very cost-effective way both to keep surfaces free from vandalism and to create visual cues to residents that the place they call home is desirable.
Next time you travel somewhere, take some time to explore the street art of that city. You will undoubtedly be led off the normal tourist path, but I am sure you will be surprised by what you find.
The emerging trend of mobile apps in travel and tourism industry – Why Mobile Apps are becoming increasingly popular in the industry?
In the modern world, the rise of mobile apps and social media has transformed every industry and travel industry is no exception!
Mobile apps have certainly evolved the way we used to travel around the world. Today, mobile apps for travel and tourism have become an integral part of the industry, facilitating customers to communicate and navigate in a highly interactive manner. These apps are able to help customers get first-hand reviews about hotels and locations, book their seats at hotels as well as in cases for cars and buses. In fact, with the rise of AI, they are actually serving as virtual tour guides for tourists to better interact with their surroundings (Google new maps is a great example of what we can expect at travelling in future).
Mobile travel apps are certainly handy utility tools for smartphone users. These are great to locate best travel resources as well as organize and plan the entire trip. That’s why it is no surprise as we see the skyrocketing demand and success of mobile apps for the travel industry.
Let’s look at some crazy statistics for travel and tourism industry.
According to Statista, the tourism and travel industry is estimated to generate over $17 billion revenue by 2020. In fact, travel and tourism industries are one of the largest industries in terms of revenue generated globally. The global revenue for travel and tourism accounts to over 7.6 trillion US dollars in 2016. Almost all travellers carry a smartphone and thus mobile apps provided an ideal opportunity for the industry to offer better facilities to customers. Today, the mobile apps have become a staple for travel and tourism industry that offer one-stop solutions for all travellers and tourists.
Here are some interesting facts from mobile apps for tourism and travel industry.
- Around 15% of global users use travel and tourism mobile apps to plan and book a trip ahead.
- Mobile apps for travel and tourism ranks at 7th spot in terms of most number of downloads
- More than 30% of travellers prefer mobile apps to search for flight tickets and hotels
And now, let’s see some benefits of mobile apps for travel and tourism industry.
– Marketing Tools
Digital marketing is a compulsion for all businesses across sizes and trades. Mobile apps provide an ideal platform for businesses to project and market directly to global customers. These apps are helping the industry to stay connected with travellers across the globe and market their services in the most interactive way.
– Travel Bookings
Perhaps the best advantage of mobile apps is their potency to offer easy bookings to travellers. From hotel bookings to rental cars, trains or buses, mobile apps offer an unlimited facility to travellers and tourists to plan and manage the trip ahead of time. Furthermore, the intense competition in mobile apps category also helps travellers to get some great discounts and incentives for their hotel bookings. Many mobile apps also offer users the platform to completely plan and customize their journey and add as many booking as they want including some special trips or sightseeing bookings.
Oh, you can also check out the complete weather update from the mobile apps, this is especially helpful if you are planning for a high-mountain resort with high expectations of rain or extreme weather changes.
– Easy Transactions
You can complete all transactions through online payment mode. Mobile apps offer you one-stop solution to book, pay and manage all transactions from one platform, without having to undergo any paperwork or without bothering to manage tickets or other paper documents.
– Explore the destination
It’s always exciting to see your destination in advance. Mobile apps offer complete real-life pictures of all travel destinations, along with reviews and ratings. This gives an excellent opportunity for travellers to plan and customize their trip in line with reviews and ratings from other customers.
– Discounts and Incentives
There is a strict competition in terms of mobile apps for travel and tourism industry. With thousands of apps battling to dominate the industry, you can expect some crazy and amazing discounts and incentives when booking with mobile apps. The discounts range from hotel bookings to discounts in airfares and even some complimentary services, absolutely free of charge.
Take away:
Tourism and travel industry has become one of the largest industries will trillion dollars annual revenue. However, the success of the industry is heavily influenced by the ever-increasing number of mobile apps, offering better, faster and reliable services to travellers.
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The use of mobile apps for bookings and travel planning is increasing annually and the intense competition in the industry isn’t just beneficial for the industry itself, rather it also offers great benefits and incentives to travellers.
Spring time in India
Discovered in the early 19th century in its native Madagascar by botanist Wensel Bojer, Gulmohar is a flamboyant tree in flower – some say the world’s most colorful tree. For several weeks in spring and summer it is covered with exuberant clusters of flame-red flowers, 4-5 in across. Even up close the individual flowers are striking: they have four spoon-shaped spreading scarlet or orange-red petals about 3 in long, and one upright slightly larger petal (the standard) which is marked with yellow and white. The delicate, fern-like leaves are composed of small individual leaflets, which fold up at the onset of dusk. Gulmohar gets 30-40 ft tall, but its elegant wide-spreading umbrella-like canopy can be wider than its height. Gulmohar is naturalized in India and is widely cultivated as a street tree.
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The two main regional Thai food dishes cooked: Sour curry with a local vine called Sandan – I still can’t find the name in English of the local vine, and they made a sour curry with fish and shrimp. Awesome dish.
Gaeng kradom – The little fruit is called Gymnopetalum chinense in English and it’s bitter tasting. They made a curry with shrimp and curry paste. It was awesome, I loved the bitterness. Interesting ingredients:
Chamuang – gacinia cowa
Bai sandan – local vine
Kradom – Gymnopetalum chinense
It was a fantastic day in Trat, exploring regional Thai food and unique dishes and ingredients in the village!
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Source- Mark Wiens