Penyal d'Ifac, the Red Wall and the archaeological sites of Calp go virtual

Calpe City Council will implement digital tools in its museums and tourist offices to be able to offer virtual tours or immersive virtual reality of some of the municipality’s tourist attractions that cannot be visited because they are not open to the public, because they have full visitor quotas or because they are not accessible to groups with limited mobility. The aim of the initiative is to improve the visitor experience and facilitate their visit to inaccessible tourist resources.

The great attractions in Calpe that will be digitised are Penyal d'Ifac, which in summer usually has a full daily booking quota, the Red Wall and the archaeological sites of Pobla d'Ifac and the medieval Banys de la Reina. In addition to making these sites of tourist interest more accessible, it is also about offering tourists a more attractive and unique visit than a traditional one.

The initiative is currently being launched with a base fund of €250,000 and is set to take three years to complete. Depending on the technical specifications, these virtual experiences could be delivered through augmented reality glasses, virtual projections, sensory stimulation devices and other types of developments that interact with the senses via ultrasound, vibration and more.

The winning company must develop content for immersive and virtual experiences that tell stories and leave an impression on the tourist. Audio guides with explanatory narrations in several languages ​​will also be produced to allow the tourist to better understand these tourist resources, in addition to video guides in sign language.

“Our main goal is to enhance the tourist’s visit to Calpe through immersive experiences, as it is about connecting the tourist with the heritage resource that he will enjoy and interact with with the five senses, which is a more authentic and different alternative to what we are used to, through which sensations of all kinds are aroused,” stressed the international promotion consultant and the next generation of Calpe, Marco Bittner.

This project is part of the destination tourism sustainability plan supported by the Valencian Community’s Ministry of Tourism, Turisme Comunitat Valencia and the Secretary of State for Tourism within the framework of the EU-funded Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), New Generation.

This project reinforces the municipality’s commitment to inclusive tourism, as it will facilitate access to these tourist resources for people with limited mobility, and achieve sustainability, as it reduces the burden of tourist flows on the natural and cultural heritage elements that must be protected. All this is in line with what is recommended in the destination’s tourism sustainability plans.