Rincón de la Victoria launches new digital tourism channels in Spanish and English

The councillor for tourism, Antonio José Martín, explained: “The introduction of these new channels represents a further step towards modernising the town hall's tourist information, with tools tailored to new ways of accessing information and which make the most of the possibilities offered by voice technology, mobile devices and new digital solutions.”

The mayor of Rincón de la Victoria, Francisco Salado, said: “These new resources enable us to continue making progress with the digital transformation of our tourist destination, putting technology at the service of residents and visitors while at the same time, giving a leading role to the people who know our town, its history, its traditions and its hidden corners best.”

“We want visitors to Rincón de la Victoria to be able to access tourist information in a simple, accessible and engaging way, but also to have the opportunity to get to know the town through the voices of those who have lived there and are part of its history,” said the mayor.

The new Tourism Skill (voice-activated app) for Rincón de la Victoria on Amazon Alexa allows residents and visitors to make enquiries by voice, in both Spanish and English and to access up-to-date information on various aspects of the municipality.

The tool provides information on events, fairs and festivals, beaches, cultural heritage, restaurants and accommodation, transport and outdoor activities, amongst other topics of interest to tourists. The system draws its data directly from the official tourism portal, turismoenrincon.es, ensuring that the information provided to users is kept up to date.

The solution has been deployed on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud using a fully serverless architecture, designed to ensure high availability, automatic scalability and low operating costs, estimated at between 18 and 27 euros per month. To use this service, users will need to download the Rincón de la Victoria Tourism Skill via the Alexa app.

The project’s objectives include facilitating access to municipal tourist information via voice technology, automatically integrating content from the official tourism website, offering a bilingual experience for international visitors and providing visual information on screen-based devices, such as the Amazon Echo Show, via APL interfaces.

The system provides the town hall with a monitoring dashboard containing usage statistics, which will make it easier to identify which tourism-related content attracts the most interest, what queries users are making, the proportion of queries in Spanish and English and how usage of the tool has evolved over the course of the year.

The second project consists of a collection of geolocated tourism podcasts, designed to showcase various points of interest in the town through the voices of local residents and people with close ties to Rincón de la Victoria.

It can be played on various mobile devices and platforms, including Vimeo, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iVoox, OnWayPod and Oklocated. In the case of Oklocated, content can be automatically triggered by proximity using Bluetooth beacons. On other platforms, users can access the podcasts by scanning the QR codes included on the signage displayed at the various tourist attractions.

The signage has been distributed across eleven points of interest in Rincón, La Cala del Moral and Benagalbón: La Cala del Moral church, the fishermen’s quarter of La Cala del Moral, the Cantal Caves, the Mediterranean archaeological park, El Cantal cliffs and tower, the statue of Noctiluca on the promenade, Plaza Pepe el Boticario, the Bezmiliana Fort, the old Torre de Benagalbón railway station, Villa Antiopa and the Benagalbón folklore centre.

Alfonso Guerra, a resident of La Cala del Moral with close ties to the church and Holy Week, shares his knowledge of the La Cala del Moral church. The history of the Pescadores (fishermen) neighbourhood in La Cala del Moral is told by José Luis Ramos, the son of a fisherman, who grew up in the neighbourhood himself and is currently president of the local rowing club.

The Cantal caves are discussed by archaeologist and researcher Pedro Cantalejo, alongside MariCruz Jaramillo, a former tourist information officer and Paca Ramos, who worked as a warden at this site. Their accounts shed light on the geological and historical significance of the caves, as well as the legends and personal experiences associated with this site.

Cantalejo is also responsible for explaining the significance of the Mediterranean archaeological park, situated on the outskirts of the Cueva del Tesoro and in the vicinity of which lies the Cueva de la Victoria.

The voice of Toñi Domínguez, a former municipal librarian and daughter of Pepe the Apothecary, guides visitors through memories of her father’s old apothecary, situated in the square that now bears his name, while also introducing them to the history of the cliffs and the Torre del Cantal.

Miguel Alba, a writer, researcher and official chronicler of the town of Rincón de la Victoria, is responsible for recounting the legend of Noctiluca – whose statue stands on the seafront promenade – as well as introducing visitors to the history of the Bezmiliana Fort.

The old Torre de Benagalbón railway station is presented by Juan Alemán, chairman of the Torresol residents’ association and a local resident, who explains the history of this site and its links to the railway network.

The tour of Villa Antiopa is led by archaeologist Juan Bautista Salado, director of the Nerja Museum and a local resident, who will help visitors discover the historical and archaeological significance of this important Roman site.

In Benagalbón, Candelaria Castellano, a local resident and volunteer at the museum oftraditional arts shares her account of this place, which preserves part of the town’s history, its traditional crafts and its way of life.

Finally, María Victoria Castillo, chair of the Peña de Verdiales El Revezo, explains the role of the Benagalbón folklore fentre as a venue dedicated to preserving and passing on the customs, traditions and cultural expressions specific to the municipality.

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