(Seychelles News Agency) - Spending your holiday in the Seychelles islands and want to find a good restaurant? A new app can help you find your way. 

The Seychelles Tourism Board has launched a new mobile phone application -- the Seychelles Travel Guide app -- which it hopes will improve visitors’ experience to the 115-island archipelago.

STB’s head of e-marketing, Vahid Jacob, said: "With today's technologies which has evolved, we've tried to include everything -- from accommodation, restaurants, attractions as well as tourism activities within one app.”

“With its Facebook integration feature, the app will surely help in giving Seychelles maximum visibility in the social media world," Jacob said to SNA.

The Seychelles Travel Guide app is compatible on all major smartphones. Once downloaded the application which is available in multiple languages also works offline.

During Thursday’s launch of the new e-marketing tool by tourism minister Alain St Ange and STB’s chief executive Sherin Francis, partners in the tourism trade were shown the various features available.

The application allows visitors to rate and write reviews of restaurants and hotels on the island.

Detailed maps of the archipelago are also available which can also be used together with built-in GPS of the smartphones to help visitors know exactly where they are going and estimated time of arrival depending on their means of transportation.

It also has an augmented reality (AR) feature similar to the one used in the Pokémon Go game. With the AR feature, users can point their devices at any direction and get to see places such as restaurants and cafes located in their vicinity.

Detailed maps of the archipelago are also available which can also be used together with built-in GPS of the smartphones to help visitors know exactly where they are going and estimated time of arrival depending on their means of transportation. (Clive Camille, Seychelles News Agency) Photo License: CC-BY

Tourism is the mainstay of the Seychelles economy. The island nation welcomes nearly 300,000 tourists annually.

SNA spoke to a few visitors currently on holiday about their travel experience. While they were yet to find out about the new tool they were all keen on seeing how it could help enhance their holiday experience.

"It's not my first time in Seychelles. I know some locals and they help me to get around the island. The new app should be interesting to see, especially when finding Creole restaurants around the islands," Adam Westrop, a visitor from the UK, said to SNA.

The use of Google maps and books were until now the option being used by some German tourists who spoke to SNA.

"Right now we are using maps and books to get around the island. I think the app is a good idea." said Kilian Zieglowski from Germany.

"We are using Google maps to get around the island. I had a couple of apps downloaded already on my phone before coming here but they were not as good. Maybe on our next visit we can use the new one since we are leaving,” said Alex Boboc from Germany.

The application allows visitors to rate and write reviews of restaurants and hotels on the island. (Clive Camille, Seychelles News Agency) Photo License: CC-BY

The new Seychelles Travel Guide app can also be used by visitors to plan their trip ahead of making their way to Seychelles. The STB’s e-marketing team explained that it can be used to create personalized itineraries based on the duration of the trip as well as particular interests of the visitors.

A Spanish company, Mtrip, that specializes in making tourism mobile apps worked with STB’s e-marketing team to develop the application which can be downloaded at no cost.

Prior to the new app, STB had launched a digital brochure for IPads and tablets but it was not interactive.