The Council of El Poble Nou de Benitatxell takes a decisive step in the digitalisation and enhancement of its ethnographic patrimony. The Patrimony department has recently awarded the company Innoarea the service of design and development of a virtual recreation experience dedicated to the emblematic ‘Pesqueres de Cingle’.
This project will allow locals and visitors to travel to the past to learn about the art of traditional fishing on the cliffs, a unique practice on the coast of the municipality that, due to the difficulty of access and the passage of time, required an innovative technological solution for its dissemination.
The virtual recreation will focus on three strategic fishing sites located in the surroundings of the Cova dels Arcs: La Branca, La Taula and La del Moraig. For each of them, the system will offer three different viewing points that will allow a complete route: from the start at the top of the cliffs, the vertiginous descent by stairs and ropes, to reaching the fishing ground itself in full activity.
To give realism to the experience, figures of local fishermen will be digitally recreated that will accompany the user in first person. In addition, the immersion will be total thanks to an audio system with realistic sounds and professional voice-overs available in four languages: Valencian, Spanish, English and French.
The project has been conceived to be enjoyed both on-site and remotely. Thus, an interactive web-app will be created compatible with mobiles, tablets and computers, accessible through QR codes installed on physical steel lecterns in the municipality.
Likewise, the Council will have autonomous virtual reality devices (state-of-the-art VR glasses) to offer a 100% immersive experience in the Tourist Office and other municipal spaces. This equipment will allow you to feel the height and the breeze of the sea, guaranteeing an emotional and pedagogical connection with the history of El Poble Nou de Benitatxell.
This action is part of the Destination Tourism Sustainability Plan (PSTD) and is financed by the European Union through the Next Generation EU funds, within the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan of the Government of Spain. The Project seeks to consolidate the municipality as a landmark in sustainable and intelligent cultural tourism.
The Councillor of Patrimony and Tourism, Víctor Bisquert, has highlighted the sentimental and historical value of this initiative. «With this project we are not only committed to technological innovation, but we are fulfilling the moral duty to safeguard our identity. The ‘Pesqueres de Cingle’ represent the effort and bravery of our ancestors in an environment as beautiful as it is hostile. Thanks to virtual reality, we have managed to make a patrimony that today is physically inaccessible to the majority universal, interactive and, above all, never to be forgotten».
