From Melbourne, Australia to Whitby, North Yorkshire - how to join in 'unique' digital tour

Whitby is known for its history, so its an unlikely location for a world’s first - a live online event allowing viewers to experience Melbourne and Whitby in less time than it takes to say Captain Cook.
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Australia’s sustained lockdowns have attracted a British proposal to turn people trapped at home by Covid restrictions into international tourists..

The project will use live streaming on the internet and is a further step in the rapid evolution of digital connections designed to overcome travel restrictions.

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The first live stream on Monday (Sep 13) is planned to take viewers on Heygo.com on a guided tour of Captain Cook’s cottage in Melbourne, with a lecture on the great explorer’s life, and then transport them digitally 17,000km to Whitby for live sightseeing in the town which shaped Cook.

From Melbourne to Whitby - digital project could entice potential tourists from Australia to North Yorkshire.From Melbourne to Whitby - digital project could entice potential tourists from Australia to North Yorkshire.
From Melbourne to Whitby - digital project could entice potential tourists from Australia to North Yorkshire.

It is understood to be the first attempt at live streaming Australian and overseas tourism destinations in the one package.

Melbourne tour guide Alex Moller said viewers of the free service will be able to ask questions during the program.

“So not only will it be interactive, people will be instantly transported to the other side of the planet. And that makes it unique,” said Moller.

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In Britain the target market for such programs is older people who have been looking for things to do after younger family and neighbours have gone back to work.

In Australia, the market is expected to be a cross-section of people confined to their homes.

The Melbourne-to-Whitby project will be presented via the website Heygo.com and will begin at 8.45am UK time on Monday.

There will be no charge although viewers will be invited to contribute donations and tips.

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Promoter at the Yorkshire end of the digital tour, John Wright from Instagrammable York Tours called it “a unique digital collaboration -to my knowledge this is a first.”

Wright said:”We’ve seen at first hand that there is a tremendous enthusiasm from international travellers to return to the UK.

"This interruption allows us to present less well known destinations that we know travellers will then want to visit in person.

"Today’s virtual traveller is tomorrow’s paying guest in Whitby”