Tours4Mobile announced today their guided walking tours are now available within the # 1 ranking app for Santa Barbara visitors.

Serial app producer Mathew Kelly recognized the “perfect fit” of walking tours for his travel platform, along with the value of SMS messaging to alert travelers near the Mission and the Wharf that the digital guides are available in the app stores under “Santa Barbara Downtown”. Kelly explains, “The Santa Barbara Downtown app uses both SMS and location based Geo-Fence messaging technology to optimize the tour experience.”

Tours4Mobile’s local walking tours, “Santa Barbara from the Mission to the Wharf”, by Nancy Shobe, and “The Santa Barbara Waterfront” by Sheila Fox Tanksley, are popular ways for both visitors and residents to learn about the landmarks they pass along State Street, Cabrillo Blvd, and several areas along the way.

Marie Profant, founder of Tours4Mobile, who was seeking local distribution for these two tours, was introduced to Mathew Kelly – as is typical in the Santa Barbara business environment – through a sequence of wine tasting and musical events. When Kelly demonstrated both his app and the alert process she agreed that “Not only do the alerts help travelers plan their trip – spontaneously – their touch screen ‘scratch here for promo code’ is a fun way for us to offer discounts!”

Kelly’s free visitor app is loaded with restaurant deals, activity listings, and even emergency contacts. All of these compliment the newly available Tours4Mobile which offer a full day of entertainment featuring the history and local legends along the routes. Users find the tours far superior to traditional audio walking tours because they are filled with dozens of photos so you quickly understand what the narrator is talking about.

Smartphone users have a choice of two formats for the full tour content, both currently on sale at 50% savings. The QuietGuides (text and image) are $4.95, and the narrated slide shows are $6.99. Profant explains, “These tours can be used to preview the area before your trip to plan where you’d like to spend your valuable vacation time, and to navigate the neighborhoods with interactive maps, and as a souvenir to share with family at home. Most people prefer the independence that their smartphones offer, and we’re quite pleased to add ‘location aware messages’ to our content – it really helps travelers enjoy their adventures. “

This Santa Barbara tour launch was the first collaboration between Profant and Kelly, and they are now working on the next release of Tours4Mobile.com due out in time for holiday travel.