First Multimedia Travel Guides for Your Mobile Device from Visual Travel Tours Including the New iPhone 3G S and Palm Pre

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Visual Travel Tours (VTT) today announced the launch of its website, www.VisualTravelTours.com. VTT is the first online source of professional multimedia tours purposely created for viewing via smart phones, cell phones, PDAs, mobile video players, and desk/laptops.

“VTT has used the latest technology to receive worldwide inputs and then they provide that content optimized for multi-platform delivery. Only now is this possible. VTT is leveraging the most important and widespread technology of our time.”

“An entire generation is changing the way it works, plays, and thinks, thanks to their ubiquitous mobile devices,” said Guy Smith, Dean of Educational Programs & Mobile Media Institute, Santa Barbara City College. “VTT has used the latest technology to receive worldwide inputs and then they provide that content optimized for multi-platform delivery. Only now is this possible. VTT is leveraging the most important and widespread technology of our time.”

Every type of traveler will find an array of worldwide adventures using VTT at a fraction of the cost of a traditional tour. VTT is launching with compelling half-hour tours to global destinations: from San Diego to Reims, France, from Burning Man to Madrid’s Art Walk. Imagine being in San Francisco or Patagonia with an hour of free time. Just turn to VTT for suggestions on what to see and a quick, guided tour. Selections can be made based on geography or personal interests such as music festivals, museums or wine tastings. New tours are planned for release each week.

“VTT provides personal, multi-media travel guided tours that fit in the palm of your hand,” said Marie Profant, President and Founder of VTT. “Travelers will no longer need to pack heavy guidebooks. They can experience everything a destination has to offer from the comfort of their lightweight personal mobile device. VTT also provides a full selection of travel tips and ePostcards, as well as links to invaluable personal guides and event calendars for major destinations throughout the world. VTT enables the traveler to pre-plan their trip or access travel information on the go.”

In addition to walking and driving tours, VTT offers travelers instant access to web-based travel advice from local experts, and convenient links to travel related services; maps, weather, currency conversion, products and reservations.

How VTT works:

Tours are created by writers with experience in a region and are professionally produced by VTT. Each tour describes the “best of” a location using an array of images with commentary in video format. Tour guides are encouraged to author their own tours for VTT for which they receive royalties.

• Consumers use a credit card to download tours from https://www.VisualTravelTours.com anywhere there is Internet access.
• Files are formatted for iPods, iPhones, PDAs, computers, and cell phones.
• VTT charges a one-time fee for each tour:

1. $15.95 for audio/video tours

2. $12.95 for the "Quiet Guide" version (text+photos) to scroll as you stroll

3. $19.95 for a disc of all audio/video formats

• Once purchased, the user can transfer the tour to their mobile device and then pause or skip ahead similarly to CD tracks, a feature especially appealing to the independent minded traveler who may want to take the tour in their own sequence.

“Traditional audio tours have no visual cues. VTT enhances the travelers’ understanding of the narrative with pictures and maps, which helps ensure that no one gets lost. There is simply nothing else like VTT in the marketplace,” said Gordon Burgett, VTT Executive Editor. “Our challenge is to maintain the high rate of user loyalty we have earned…already, over 53% of our visitors bookmark the site.”

About Visual Travel Tours

VTT’s mission is to enrich a traveler’s experience by using evolving technology, providing more than traditional audio walking tours and offering local experts opportunities to share their expertise and collect royalties. Travel writing expert and Executive Editor Gordon Burgett has spent the past several months communicating with guides and writers around the world, ushering them through the company’s online manual, “Provider Island” and its unique tour submission process. Mr. Burgett is joined by a team of seasoned experts, from publishers to audio/video producers. The parent company, URaTrip® LLC, is based in Santa Barbara and led by Marie Profant, President, a long-time manager of leading-edge systems development. The company is offering opportunities for video producers to audition their work with clips of world-wide destinations. The best will be invited to become VTT producers. For more information, please visit www.VisualTravelTours.com.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=5987840&lang=en