Press release 3 April 2017
3 April 2017
LAUNCH OF AUGMENTED REALITY PROJECT IS SET TO BRING NEW LIFE TO SALISBURY
Salisbury is one of twelve of England’s historic cities which have collaborated to develop an innovative augmented reality (AR) product that is set to bring heritage to life. The ground-breaking new AR experience launched on 31 March to celebrate English Tourism Week. It consists of an app and videos that transports the user back in time to unveil the hidden lives of some of history’s most fascinating characters at Salisbury Cathedral & Magna Carta.
The premise of the app is to capture significant historic moments in time whilst providing tourists the opportunity to explore England’s most historic cities. It uses cutting-edge technology to give the historical moments a fresh perspective and make history’s fascinating characters come to life.
VisitWiltshire’s application for Salisbury to join English Heritage Cities, a collection of unique and fascinating historical cities across England, was successful last year. VisitWiltshire is working closely with Salisbury BID, Salisbury City Council and Salisbury Cathedral on this project.
It is set to transform Salisbury Cathedral’s appeal by introducing it to a new, more technologically motivated and younger audience. It also hopes to encourage return visitors by offering the opportunity to experience the attraction in a different way. In a rapidly changing and competitive tourist environment, the use of AR technology will offer a point of difference that will attract visitors and showcase the best of the city.
In Salisbury Cathedral you’ll hear the tale of Countess Ela of Salisbury, a towering female figure from the mid-13th century, and how she laid one of the Cathedral’s foundation stones and buried her husband after he died in mysterious circumstances. Ela unveils the hidden histories and tells her incredible story of mystery, political intrigue, war, murder, faith and the freedom women, like her, gained from the Magna Carta.
David Andrews, CEO VisitWiltshire said, “We are delighted to be working on this project as the city has so much to offer visitors to the area. We want to ensure our Visit Salisbury website is a top-of-mind resource for visitors to the county and embracing technology in this way can only be positive for Wiltshire’s tourism economy going forward.”
Jane Morgan, Director of Development and Communications at Salisbury Cathedral, said:
“Allowing visitors to encounter our Cathedral using digital technology is something we have long wanted to do. This app brings to life people who were intimately involved in the construction of this extraordinary building and the story of our 1215 Magna Carta. It allows visitors to ‘meet’ characters from our past and ‘visit’ spaces in the Cathedral that are not readily accessible to the public.”
Nicola Said, Head of Digital and Funding at Marketing Cheshire, who has delivered the project on behalf of the Heritage Cities, said: ‘This is one of the most exciting tourism products on the market – a true marrying of old and new and a completely innovative way to inspire an increasingly digital world to take a step back into the past. I cannot wait to see the app in action and watch people from all around the world take pleasure in England’s glorious, captivating history. It will enable all the cities in question to be able to reach new audiences and showcase the iconic cultural heritage we have to offer.’
England’s Heritage Cities cover the length and breadth of England, from Canterbury to Durham and Salisbury to Carlisle. They offer diverse experiences and all of them are well-connected via rail, making it easy for tourists to travel to more than one at a time.
The app ‘England’s Historic Cities’ is available to download for free in google play and on the app store or at www.historic-cities.com/stories
The exciting new project is one of a number of projects to benefit from the by the £40 million Discover England Fund - a central government funded programme of activity administered by VisitEngland supported by match-funding from private and public partners.
For further information or to arrange a press visit please contact Florence Wallace, Travel Trade & PR Manager, flowallace@visitwiltshire.co.uk Tel: 01722 341309 or 07436 588860
Notes to editors:
About VisitWiltshire
VisitWiltshire is the official Destination Management & Marketing Organisation for Wiltshire representing 600 partners. It is a public/private sector membership organisation with our main funder being Wiltshire Council. VisitWiltshire's priority is to grow the county's Visitor Economy by raising awareness of the destination and generating additional tourism visits and spend. Wiltshire's Visitor Economy currently generates an estimated £1.5billion and supports over 29,000 jobs.
VisitWiltshire’s ‘Salisbury’ album can be viewed on the Flickr gallery via this link https://www.flickr.com/gp/129320754@N03/dc9iz3 Photos may be downloaded and used in print and/or online for the promotion of tourism to Wiltshire and any photos used must be credited to www.visitwiltshire.co.uk unless otherwise stated in the title of the photo. Full terms and conditions can be found here.
About the Discover England Fund
- In November 2015, the Government announced a £40 million Discover England Fund; an unprecedented opportunity for English tourism. The Fund aims to deliver world-class bookable tourism products joined up across geographies and/or themes; including integrated transport solutions to provide an end-to-end customer experience.
- The Fund supports the growth of one of England’s most successful export industries, inbound tourism. England has seen record tourism spend in the past year from both domestic and international visitors delivering economic growth and jobs across all the English regions.
- The Fund will support a number of projects and pilots in year one (2016/17) to test and develop product development approaches and a small number of large-scale collaborative projects that create a step-change in bookable English tourism product for international consumers (in years two and three - 2017-19). A smaller funding pot for new one year projects and pilots, and continuation funding for existing round one projects that can demonstrate early learnings, will also be available.
About VisitBritain/VisitEngland
- VisitBritain/VisitEngland is the national tourism agency – a non-departmental public body funded by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS)
- Working with a wide range of partners in both the UK and overseas, our mission is to grow the volume and value of inbound tourism across the nations and regions of Britain and to develop world-class English tourism product to support our growth aspirations. For further information and to access the latest in-depth market intelligence and statistics visit www.visitbritain.org or www.visitbritain.com and www.visitengland.com for consumer information.
About England’s Heritage Cities
- England’s Heritage Cities is a consortium of cities who work together principally focused on marketing, lobbying and research. The consortium includes the destination management organisations representing Bath, Cambridge, Carlisle, Chester, Durham, Greenwich, Lancaster, Lincoln, Oxford, Salisbury, Stratford-upon-Avon and York. More information is available on www.heritagecities.com
About Salisbury Cathedral
- Salisbury Cathedral is one of Britain’s finest medieval cathedrals. It was built in just 38 years, between 1220 and 1258, in single architectural style (Early English Gothic). 70,000 tons of stone and 420 tons of lead were used in its construction.
- Over 300,000 people visit the Cathedral each year to marvel at the peace and beauty of the nearly 800-year-old building, and to admire Britain’s tallest spire and largest Cloisters. The Cathedral owns the finest of only four remaining 1215 Magna Carta, which is on display in its own exhibition in the Cathedral’s beautiful Chapter House.
- In 2016 Salisbury Cathedral’s volunteer group, which numbers around 650 including Cathedral guides, received a Queens Award for Voluntary Service. The award recognises the excellent service the volunteers give to the Cathedral congregation, visitors and the local community.