20 March 2009

VisitBritain to lure more travellers through virtual link-up

Virtual walking tours of key UK cities are to be made available on the internet through a tie-up between VisitBritain and Google.

The new Google Street View technology will feature 25 cities and towns in Britain and Northern Ireland.

Users of Google maps can use the Street View mapping to get an idea of the sights they can see when visiting Britain.

They will be able to take a virtual walking tour of destinations such as London, Cardiff, Belfast and Edinburgh, and from Southampton to Aberdeen, Bristol to Norwich.

VisitBritain has worked with Google to create a visual guide - called a maplet - directly in Street View which features sights in London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Birmingham, Cambridge, Leeds and Oxford.

This maplet then links to VisitBritain’s global website, visitbritain.com, where users can access some of its 1,000 destination guides. Each guide further helps them plan their trip with information about where to stay, shop and eat out, as well as the attractions, events and experiences.

This year an extra five million people may consider a holiday in their own country, according to VisitBritain ahead of British Tourism Week next week. Meanwhile, international visitors can taken advantage of improved exchange rates on their trips.

VisitBritain head of online marketing Justin Reid said: "We're very excited to be working with Google on the launch of Street View in the UK. The internet is an incredibly rich resource for raising awareness of destinations, driving travel to and around Britain. Street View is a real opportunity for us to showcase our destinations to millions worldwide.

"Seeing some of our globally-renowned attractions - a mix of old and new - up close, could inspire many more people to visit our shores.

"Our partnership with Google will also mean Street View explorers can find information about the different destinations and attractions, as well as value for money experiences, on www.visitbritain.com."

Google’s geospatial technologist Ed Parsons said: "Street View has been hugely popular with our users in Europe and worldwide and we're thrilled it's now available in UK for so many great cities, enabling users to see street-level panoramas of major city roads and look up and print out useful driving directions."

*Give us your opinion on UK tourism in TravelMole's exclusive poll with ETOA (see separate story).

by Phil Davies