Dublin visitors offered official podcast guides

Dublin Tourism has become the latest travel and tourism operation to embrace the MP3 player revolution with the launch of a series of podcasts to be used as travel guides. The organisation has produced two downloadable podcasts, or iWalks, titled “Georgian Dublin” and “The Historic Northside”, with another ten to be made available by the…

Dublin Tourism has become the latest travel and tourism operation to embrace the MP3 player revolution with the launch of a series of podcasts to be used as travel guides.

The organisation has produced two downloadable podcasts, or iWalks, titled “Georgian Dublin” and “The Historic Northside”, with another ten to be made available by the end of March.

Each iWalk will be free to download from Dublin Tourism’s website, visitdublin.com, with users also able to print off maps and brochures in a PDF format.

Dublin Tourism has predicted the traditional generic guides will become secondary to podcasts that can be numerous in number and specific to a visitor’s interests.

“The iWalks have a distinct advantage over traditional guidebooks because they are free to download and can be regularly updated with fresh information,” the organisation said.

Podcast.net and other leading download sites have created vast libraries of home-made or commercially-produced travel guides, such as Lonely Planet’s Travelcasts, in the past 12 months.

But the project is believed to be the first time an official European tourist body has launched a city guide specifically designed for a podcast.

The additional iWalks will include “Castles and Cathedrals”, “Rock N Stroll Trail”, “Phoenix Park” and “Temple Bar to the Docklands”.