By JARRETT ARSENAULT
The Pilot
LEWISPORTE – Tourism, Culture and Recreation Minister Derrick Dalley spoke at the Notre Dame Tourism Information Centre about the new tourism application on July 31.
The application, now available as a free download for the iPhone and iPad, uses the built in GPS of the devices to find nearby hotels, restaurants, festivals, and for that personal touch, tourism information centres.
The interface includes live Newfoundland and Labrador weather feeds, news, blogs, and an option for social media updates through a Wi-Fi connection. The app also comes with a detailed description of all the accommodations, attractions, festivals, and events happening in the province with a display of how long it will take to get there.
With features like narrowing down events to a time and area, automatic updates to location through GPS, as well as estimated time of arrival, and background information of the areas, even locals with find use for this application.
“We’ve developed a very extensive app that will be available to the traveling public to be able to promote our province and be able to, basically as the phrase says, carry us around in their pocket,” said Minister Dalley.
Also in attendance at the Tourism Information Centre was Lewisporte MHA Wade Verge. Anything that promotes tourism for the area is great by any means, he said.
“It makes it easier for the traveling public to find places, find events,” said MHA Verge. “Anything that does that is great for the area, and we’re certainly excited.”
For now, the application is only available on the Apple App Store, but Minister Dalley said he is looking to expand soon.
“We will develop in 2013 for the Android system, but what we found, or as our researches indicated to us, particularly on our own website, newfoundlandandlabrador.com, the huge majority of people accessing our sites are using iPhones,” said Minister Dalley. “This will be a work in progress for us, this is something that’s new, it’s exciting, it’s comprehensive. I think it’s something that will grow for us as well and we will add some features to it as we move forward.”
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