Phone app offers high-tech guide to Yorkshire

Downloaded to the fashionable phone – which allows users to access the Internet – the official Welcome To Yorkshire App will deliver tips on eating, drinking, shopping and sightseeing, wherever it finds itself in the region.

Developed by Welcome To Yorkshire, the new face of the old Yorkshire Tourist Board, the programme has been given a four-star rating by the App Store, online specialist in iPhone applications.

The tourist can choose to get information from with a five, ten or 15-mile radius of his or her location. The app checks its position by satellite and goes to the Welcome To Yorkshire website for relevant listings.

Asked for somewhere to eat and drink within 10 miles of the Yorkshire Show yesterday, it threw up a list reaching as far as the Lavender Tearooms at Knaresborough. Its list of tourist attractions for the whole of Yorkshire started with the Millennium Gallery in Leeds, Fountains Abbey, Salts Mill, Tea at Betty's and the Museum Quarter of Hull. It also gave a weather forecast for each location.

Users can also build a bespoke list of things to do using the Favourites tab. They can check locations on Google Maps or call up What's On for a list of events and festivals.

Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, said: "Creating the region's first official app means millions of people will be able to access Yorkshire in a way that is convenient to them.

"The App is simple to use and packed full of information – it's everything you need to know about Yorkshire in the palm of your hand."

Apple, makers of the iPhone, says that 85 million users, worldwide, have dowloaded five billion apps between them so far, and Welcome To Yorkshire is hoping this new one will help spread Yorkshire consciousness internationally.

The app does not currently work specifically enough to guide visitors around the Great Yorkshire Show – which many would welcome – but it could theoretically be developed in that sort of direction, said Kristal Ireland, digital marketing manager for Welcome To Yorkshire.

It can be downloaded, free of charge, from http://tinyurl.com/2cdcfwc/