Tourists to get their own radio station

Tourists will benefit from a new service designed to entertain, educate and navigate – all from the comfort of their rental car.

Tourism Radio will feature New Zealand music, entertaining radio shows with a distinctive local flavour and area information relevant to the region a tourist is travelling through.

Tourism Radio's managing director New Zealand and Australia Hayden Braddock said today the innovative service would act as a "virtual tour guide", using integrated GPS to broadcast content in real time relative to the location of the listeners.

"Tourism Radio's unique IntelliPoint system draws the driver's attention to prominent landmarks and highlights as the vehicle approaches them, making sure the tourist doesn't miss any key attractions.

"Whether it's the closest visitor centre, an historical insight or information on New Zealand slang and local music, Tourism Radio aims to provide a comprehensive information and entertainment service to travellers," Mr Braddock said.

Primarily aimed at the tourist rental market the hardware is fitted into rental vehicles.

"The technology uses an integrated GPS system to transmit the programming directly to the car's radio so it's easy to use."

When it launches this month, Tourism Radio would include some 1600 points of interest throughout the country and around 80 hours of programming.

The content had been written to capture the essence of the country using common phrases and kiwi voices for an authentic listening experience, Mr Braddock said.

Tourism Radio was originally started in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2005.

- NZPA