Virtual reality to attract visitors

BENITACHELL is utilising the power of new technology to create an online museum of culture and show off its heritage and landscape.

The town does not have a physical museum to exhibit and explain its history and evolution. Work is about to start on a virtual centre to show off its attractions to visitors and tourists.

The Museo al Viento – or museum of the wind – has a budget of over € 37,000 and is financed by a grant of 65% from the Valencia tourist authority, more than € 24,000; with the balance of € 13,000 coming from town hall coffers.

Tourist chiefs agreed the subsidy as part of ongoing plans to improve the competitiveness of the region’s attractions.

When on stream, there will be 360- degree tours of the town, its architecture, the landscape and coastal cliffs and caves used over the years by fishermen, farmers and smugglers; while the history of the area and the impact of its human population will be explained.

And having whet the appetite, the project and its budget also includes new signs and maintenance of the walks highlighted over the internet to allow them to be explored.

The main attractions will also have information in the pages of the virtual museum and on physical notice boards in Valencian, Spanish, English and French.

A spokesman for the town hall said the new museum would expand tourism by ‘ enhancing’ the main attractions of Benitachell. “

He said with an increasing demand for cultural and environmental tourism, the project sought to make the town a yearround destination for visitors and have a ‘ positive impact on the local economy’.

It also provided an alternative to the Costa Blanca’s traditional ‘ sun and beach’ holidays and protected the environment by highlighting existing routes and trails and preventing the ‘ trampling of sensitive areas’.