Investment Project Proposal

CityWander

António Tavares Santos: up202006883@edu.fe.up.pt

Carolina Dias Conde Azevedo: up202008435@edu.fe.up.pt
Dinis Bichança Moreira e Silva: up202006980@edu.fe.up.pt
Francisco Correia Barros de Sousa: up202004864@edu.fe.up.pt
Leonor Nogueira Barreto Pinheiro da Silva: up202007460@edu.fe.up.pt
Maria Teresa Camões Castro Neves: up202007344@edu.fe.up.pt
Miguel Costa Mendes Ribeiro: up201907455@edu.fe.up.pt
Rodrigo Pina de Morais de Castro Lima: up202007932@edu.fe.up.pt

Group 15, Class 1M.EGI04

Evaluation of Investment Projects 2023/2024

Prof. Maria Dulce Soares Lopes
Prof. Marta Maria Campos Ferreira

Master in Industrial Engineering and Management

2023-10-10
 1. About CityWander
CityWander is a trip itinerary designing mobile app that aims to make traveling easier and
more enjoyable. Designed for travelers who want to make the most out of their city visits, this
app takes the hassle out of itinerary planning by considering critical factors: days of the trip,
closing days and hours of attractions, budget, meteorological conditions, and interests.
This app is the key to unlocking the hidden gems of any city. There is the understanding
that people’s time is precious, and this project helps maximizing their experience.
It combines cutting-edge technology with thoughtful planning, considering multiple factors
to create the perfect itinerary tailored for everyone.
Using the app is as simple as setting the location (either enabling GPS location or manually
selecting the city the person is planning to visit) and personalizing the trip with the days of stay,
specified budget, and interests.
The beauty of CityWander is also its flexibility. If plans are changed or the user wants to
discover a new place along the way, they simply have to adjust the itinerary on the fly. The app
will provide alternative options and seamlessly update the schedule.

The key features of the app are:

● Duration of the stay
The user will receive daily itineraries based on the number of days they will be
exploring the city, and the trip will be planned in a way that days are linked
together for a seamless experience.
● Attraction closing days and hours
The app syncs with official attraction schedules, providing accurate opening and
closing times. In case of unexpected closures, the app automatically adjusts the
plan, ensuring there is an alternative option. Local holidays are also considered
since many attractions can be conditioned by them.
● Budget Consideration
The user defines the budget for the whole trip, for each day of the trip or for
different categories like dining, museums, parks…
● Meteorological insights
Allows users to stay informed about temperature and precipitation and gives
suggestions that match the weather, guaranteeing a pleasant experience.
● Personalization and convenience
Allows the choice of preferences and access to recommendations from fellow
travelers. There is the possibility to find transportation options that best suit the
itinerary and budget.

Now, in any business endeavor, it's crucial to have a clear understanding of the
competitive landscape.
Starting with indirect competitors (offering substitutes or alternatives), we can find apps
like Google Maps, software widely used for navigation but also offering features for exploring
attractions. While it can be used for basic trip planning, it doesn’t provide detailed and careful
itineraries. Users often turn to TripAdvisor to research and dining options. Even though this
platform offers valuable information, it doesn't provide automated itinerary planning.
When it comes to direct competitors (offering a similar product), mTrip and Google
Trips, formerly a standalone app, are known for itinerary creation and city navigation, in mTrip
case with AR and offline maps. Still, these do not consider meteorology, closing days and hours
of attractions and budget.
To conclude, it is necessary to define the service providers who will be responsible for
developing the app, which should be handed over to an internal team.

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 2. Our Mission and Objectives
Mission
CityWander’s mission is to revolutionize the way people explore cities around the
world. The app not only saves travelers time, but it also creates personalized itineraries that
meet their unique needs and interests, while taking in account all the necessary factors.
CityWander wants travelers to embark on a journey that’s as unique as they are!

Objectives
CityWander has many objectives to fulfill, providing a roadmap for the company’s
success. For the app to expand its global presence, it must become the first choice for
travelers from all over the world and expand its language offering and geographical
coverage. It must also be accessible and easy to use for travelers of all ages and conditions.
Besides that, CityWander also aims to provide an effective customer service, promote
sustainable tourism practices, and develop strategic partnerships.
These objectives help guide the company's strategic direction, growth, and ongoing
efforts to meet the needs of its users while remaining competitive in the travel planning app
market. It's important to regularly assess and adjust these objectives to align with changing
market dynamics and user preferences.

3. Values
● Customer-centricity: The needs and satisfaction of our users always come first to make
their travel experiences enjoyable and hassle-free.
● Simplicity: CityWander aims to keep the user interface and experience as simple and
user-friendly as possible, so that travelers from all ages and backgrounds can have an
enriching and pleasant experience.
● Adaptability: We embrace change and adapt to the evolving needs of travelers and the
travel industry.
These values serve as a foundation for the culture and operations of CityWander, helping guide
decision-making and actions to ensure the company's success in delivering an exceptional travel
planning experience.

4. Strategic Planning and Implementation

To better understand the characteristics of the market at issue and to support
decision-making, a SWOT - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats - analysis was used
(presented in Appendix A). With this, the goal is to take advantage of the opportunities presented to
the company and minimize the threats it faces.
The project will be implemented in several consecutive stages. As a first step, there is a
need to understand in which cities should begin the implementation, as they present the best
conditions for being a pilot city. Then there is the need to study and acquire data on the different
tourist attractions in these cities, as well as finding the right partners to set up the project.
Finally, a marketing phase and the launch of an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) begins to
study the market's behavior in the face of the assumptions initially made.

5. Internal Structure
The company is made up of 8 founders, who account for the management team responsible
for coordinating the various departments, namely IT, Marketing, Finance, Legal and Human
Resources. The management team is made up of experienced professionals in the travel industry,
entrepreneurship, and digital marketing. This fusion aims to complement the different areas of
expertise and is recognized by a team that is a specialist in the area and highly driven to the
company's success. With the development of the company and the consequent need for internal and
external expansion (new markets), the goal is to hire employees for the different departments, taking
responsibility for stages such as attraction, recruitment, onboarding, development, and retention.

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 6. Legal Structure
CityWander's legal structure consists of a Limited Liability Company, CityWander, Lda, in
which there are eight partners. Compared to the Public Limited Company, the first-mentioned
structure is characterized by its simplicity, since it requires only two partners to start a business,
does not establish a minimum limit for share capital and has lower administrative costs.

7. Partnerships
The sustainability of the project is closely related to the partnerships it has acquired, whose
support is fundamental to the growth of the concept. A city trip planner app like CityWander can
form different partnerships to provide the best services to users and to generate revenue from that.
These are the partnership opportunities with more potential:
● monuments, museums and attractions
Collaborating with different kinds of venues and attractions could be a way of
making it easier for the users to book tickets or having priority over other type of
visitors.
● hotels, hostels, Airbnbs or vacation rental platforms
The app could offer the users the chance of booking one of those, even offering
them discounts, as well as insightful information about each one, in order for
the user to make a choice according to certain priorities and factors.
● restaurants
A partnership with restaurants, mainly typical ones or with typical food, could be a
way of generating revenue by advertising those restaurants and providing an easy
way of making a reservation.
● events and festivals
In case the trip’s goal is to attend one of these, the app could be a platform for
booking the tickets and for providing useful information and advice.
● local transportation services
Collaboration with car rental services or public transportation enterprises could be
very useful for tourists, improving their experience in traveling around the city.
● local guides
This partnership could provide the users the chance of booking a local guide to help
them discover the secrets of the city.
● language learning or translation apps
A partnership of this kind could help the user to survive in a city with a completely
different language and even offer them a chance of learning it.

8. Social Responsibility
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a business strategy used by for-profit organizations
to find ways to advance social and environmental objectives while pursuing core business
objectives including maximizing shareholder value and revenue development. Environmental,
charitable, ethical, and economic responsibility are the conventional divisions of CSR.
Environmental responsibility is the idea that businesses should act in a way that is as
ecologically beneficial as feasible. The philanthropic motive might already include things like
supporting health efforts, giving to charities, funding educational programmes, and funding
community beautification activities. CityWander is hoping to collaborate with organizations that aid
underprivileged people and are environment friendly. Because of that, this project supports
charitable and environmental initiatives. Being ethically responsible entails making sure a company
follows fair business practices everywhere. All employees at CityWander receive the same
treatment, and the company values mutual aid, teamwork, and critical thinking.

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APPENDIX
A.

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