Big changes are taking place that could potentially give Ruthin a big tourism boost and put the little North Wales town on the map for digital tourism efforts.
Many local businesses, including Cavendish Estate Agents in Ruthin, local shops and the local tourism board are excited for the future because Ruthin has announced a project to become the next Wikipedia town!
This project will embrace digital tourism on a new level as vast amounts of useful information about Ruthin will be available at your fingertips all over the world!
Local businesses are hopeful that this will increase visitors to the town in the same way it did for fellow Welsh town Monmouth which became the first Wikipedia town and saw a significant increase in tourism.
To make Ruthin a ‘Wikipedia’ town their presence on Wikipedia will be expanded by much more information being compiled about the town. Many articles on all features of the town will be written to make the ‘Ruthinwiki’ page grow and have many sections covering all the best aspects of the town.
The project will include encouraging local businesses, organisations, groups and residents to write articles about the town which will become part of the Ruthin Wiki presence online. This information will be available in over 30 languages so people can access in depth tourist information about Ruthin all over the world.
QR Code technology will also be a part of the experience so that when tourists come to Ruthin then can directly access information on significant landmarks. Visitors will be able to scan QR codes on their phones or other devices and access articles on landmarks as they visit them.
Wifi spots will be placed around the town to help make the most of this new digital tourism project.
Information will also be available on Wikivoyage, which is dedicated to travel, so those planning their holiday will be able to find out a great amount of useful information promoting the best of Ruthin.
The project is currently in its early stages and consultants representing Wikipedia are being brought in to help with the transition and development of Ruthin into a Wikipedia town. Classes have been taking place in the town to teach local people how to write Wikipedia articles and edit Wikipedia in both English and Welsh.
To local estate agents and tourism related businesses such as Ruthin Castle, its hotels and B&Bs this project is of particular interest because if it is successful in attracting greater footfall to the town it could benefit the local economy and property market.
Image Credit: Joccay – www.flickr.com/photos/joccay/ – creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
