A GUIDED walking tour through award-winning wine territory is now in the palm of tourists’ hands following the launch of the Coonawarra Walking Trail phone app.
Six wineries have partnered to develop the application, which has further broadened the visitor experience in the Coonawarra district.
Drink Ottelia and Eat Fodder, DiGiorgio Family Wines, Brands Laira, Redman Wines, Wynns Coonawarra Estate and Zema Estate have backed the technology, which received around $10,000 in state funding.
Ottelia’s John Innes said the concept was triggered by a conversation between a handful of wineries close to the Coonawarra township around five years ago.
“It has really grown from there with six wineries now involved,” Mr Innes said.
“We were fortunate enough to be working with Emma Rasheed as our adviser and through her research she was able to access an existing walking rail app developer.
“We were then able to use this existing platform to develop the Coonawarra Walking Trail app, which made it affordable and reasonably straightforward to develop.”
Mr Innes said the trail already had strong organic growth since first discussed, with wineries installing signage to direct tourists.
“While we were working on this Tony Gleeson from Wynns suggested that an interactive app would greatly enhance the experience,” he said.
“We were able to pursue the concept and the grant, which was matched dollar for dollar by the six participating wineries, to make the app development achievable.”
The application provides both directional detail and information on points of interest as visitors progress along the trail.
“It is interactive and enhances the experience overall,” Mr Innes said.
The Coonawarra Walking Trail application can be downloaded onto compatible mobile devices.
