Ever been struck by wanderlust by a friend’s snapshot of an Alpine vista? How about being filled with jealousy over your favorite influencer’s sojourn to the Greek Isles?
Low-cost air carrier EasyJet ESYJY, -2.20% is betting on that Instagram-fueled travel envy with its newest service. The British budget airline rolled out a new service this week, called “Look&Book,” which allows travelers to book air travel using an image from Instagram FB, -1.97%
Users can take a screenshot of an Instagram post and upload it into EasyJet’s app , which is currently available only on Apple AAPL, -1.31% devices. The Look&Book tool will then use location-based information embedded in the photo, pinpoint the location on a map and find the nearest airport.
Enticing images on Instagram increasingly drive tourism to photogenic destinations, leading some spots to become overrun. That’s taking an environmental toll as locations become “loved to death.” A sunflower farm in Ontario closed forever after its fragile crops were trampled by visitors eager to share photos on social media.
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The service isn’t foolproof. It generally works best for European locations, which make up the bulk of EasyJet’s available routes. Travel website The Points Guy also noted that the service sometimes had difficulty locating landscapes (as opposed to more urban locations).
This isn’t the first time Instagram has been used to enable consumer transactions. Last May, the social networking service rolled out “call-to-action” buttons for business profiles that allow users to book hotel or dining reservations or buy event tickets starting from the Instagram app.
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