ROCKINGHAM — Richmond County will soon become one of the first in North Carolina to offer visitors a sampling of local attractions available 24/7 on touchscreen kiosks, according to Richmond County Tourism Development Authority Executive Director Kelly Pruett.
Next Tuesday at 4 p.m., the first of many kiosks will be unveiled during a ribbon cutting ceremony between Twisted Treats and Gifts Four All Season in the Richmond Plaza shopping center on East Broad Avenue.
Eventually, the new state-of-the-art kiosks will be positioned all over the county at hotels and different attractions to promote tourism and local businesses to visitors and residents in the community.
“We will be one of the first counties to offer these to citizens and visitors,” said Richmond County Chamber of Commerce President Emily Tucker. “We feel this will provide easy navigation and expose our merchants, as well as our attractions, to those visiting and shopping in Richmond County. I believe it’s a great way to showcase Richmond County and create a domino effect that they will start at one stop and want to visit multiple sites in our community.”
The kiosks feature touch screens that visitors and residents can navigate on and will feature local dining spots, hotels, attractions and arts and entertainment. Each page shows photos, locations and directions to each destination.
The first phase, according to Pruett, will be 18 kiosks put in the Holiday Inn Express, Quality Inn and Suites, America’s Best Value Inn, Comfort Suites and Days Inn, as well as one in the visitors’ center at the intersection of U.S. 1 and U.S. 74 Business, the Hamlet Depot, Rankin Museum, Discovery Place Kids, the Rockingham Dragway, the campus of Richmond Community College, the Berry Patch and Triple L Farms in Ellerbe and Sycamore RV Campground in the Derby community.
“Ultimately we’ll be adding Hitchcock Creek Blue Trail, DeWitt’s Outdoor, Little River Winery, Ellerbe Springs Inn and Campground, Rockingham City Hall and Richmond County offices,” said Pruett. “We’ll do those and then the next year we’ll add the other ones based off of success. We’ll know exactly what kind of market in the areas and where we need to expand.”
In addition to the kiosks, to help tourists find local attractions, a new wayfinding system is also in the works. The signs, much like those already installed in Hamlet, will point those interested in the right direction of places and attractions such as Discovery Place Kids, Cole Auditorium and downtown shopping.
Reach reporter Matt Harrelson at 910-817-2674 and follow him on Twitter @mattyharrelson.