National tourism organisation VisitScotland has launched a pilot scheme – called Find It – to provide tourist information to visitors and residents by mobile phone.

From now until 8 January 2007, details of bars, restaurants and visitor attractions in Edinburgh, as well as top ten tips on what to do during your stay and weather updates, can be downloaded without charge to mobile phones by registered users.

Willie Macleod, director of visitor services and quality, said: “The Find It pilot has been developed following extensive research among visitors to Scotland. We’ve completed a major review of how we deliver information and sales to visitors. One of its key recommendations was to identify the best channels for communicating with today’s visitors. We believe there’s great potential in using technology such as mobile phones and we’ll carry out a detailed analysis of the results in January 2007.”

If successful, the service will be used in other parts of Scotland in 2007.

Funding for the initiative came from the Scottish Executive, which has pledged an additional £550,000 over the next two years to VisitScotland to maximise the potential of new technology in the tourism sector.

Tourism minister Patricia Ferguson said: “Visitors increasingly want to get information using new technology, and that is why the Scottish Executive allocated funding to VisitScotland in November to maximise the potential new media can offer.

“The Find It pilot scheme will allow Edinburgh’s Hogmanay revellers to access useful information while on the move. That means that they will be able to take full advantage of all that the city has to offer.” Details: www.visitscotland.com