NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

Contact: Marie Profant
mprofant@visualtraveltours.com
805-705-9179

TRAVEL BACK IN TIME, ON YOUR CELL PHONE, TOURING MACKINAC ISLAND

Mackinac Island, Michigan, June 3, 2010 -- Have a cell phone or mobile device? That's all you need to venture back in time. With the release of Visual Travel Tours' (VTT) "Michigan's Magical Mackinac Island" visitors can explore this popular destination with a friendly tour guide in the palm of their hand.

Anyone with a mobile device can enjoy the experience of a personalized tour of the historic island, even if they don't know anyone there. "The most rewarding trips are the ones when you have a local friend to show you around," said Marie Profant, founder of VTT. "Our tours introduce you to the places where the locals go, the little-known story of the town's landmarks, the best views, shopping and insider hangouts."

Written by travel writer Tina Lassen, and professionally produced, the tour gives unique insights in a simple, innovative format. VTT, which has more than 165 tours highlighting locations around the world, has reinvented how travelers tour with the first (and only) e-books and narrated tours with images, designed for cell phones such as the Blackberry and iPhone, video iPods, iPads, PDAs, and computers. Unlike most phone apps, no internet connection or cell coverage is necessary.

"There is simply nothing else like VTT in the marketplace. Our writers are experts, so their firsthand knowledge and personal anecdotes add special value to the journey," explains VTT Executive Editor, Gordon Burgett. "Visual Travel Tours can be used three ways: to preview while you plan your trip, to explore the sights when you are there, and to see and share it all again back home with your friends."

Bob Williams of Los Angeles, said, "Organized bus and group walking tours aren't for me and I don't like to carry heavy guidebooks all day. Since my cell phone is always with me I simply downloaded the VTT tour and had it right there in my palm of my hand as I strolled around. The guide gave me inside stories you can only get from a resident, and the ease of listening to it on my cell was just perfect."

Travelers download a tour ($12.95 for a QuietGuide, $15.95 for a narrated tour) or purchase a CD for $19.95 online. The CD contains formats for all mobile devices, so a family with different device types can tour together. Once downloaded, the tours do not require an internet connection and there is no need for the latest and greatest phone. Chapter titles appear on your mobile device like a play list, to play on your schedule, at your pace with the ability to pause as you go.

Watch a sample of Mackinac Island: http://visualtraveltours.com/tours_show.html?id=488

VTT enriches the traveler experience with fascinating tours that are an alternative to traditional audio tours or guidebooks. Through their variety of tours VTT provides travelers a new way to enjoy worldwide destinations all in the palm of their hand. "We appeal to the type of traveler that may have used museum audio tours and who enjoys life-long learning as they explore," said Profant. "The tours describe landmarks and legends, with photos so you know which building the narrator is talking about." For more information go to http://visualtraveltours.com.

More Information and Tour Samples:

Mackinac Island, as described by author Tina Lassen:
"A quick ferry ride to this scenic Great Lakes island is a fascinating and fun trip back in time. Hop on a bicycle or a horse-drawn carriage to explore Mackinac's auto-free escape, where fur traders gathered in the 1600s, colonial soldiers occupied a fort high on the bluffs in the 1700s, and wealthy visitors "summered" in the 1800s. Today, it's a great 21st-century destination, with its well-preserved fort and mansions, hundreds of acres of forest and beach, and a Victorian downtown filled with great shopping and dining."

Chapter titles appear like a play list, to play on your schedule, at your pace:
Traveling to the Island
Downtown
Fort Mackinac
The Grand Hotel
Natural Mackinac
Circling the Island

Sample directions, from the tour:
Right across the street is the Little Stone Congregational Church, built in 1900 of Mackinac Island stone. As you might imagine, it's extremely popular for weddings. Ahead, you'll get your first glimpse of the Grand Hotel - and indeed, it is grand. It ranks as the largest summer resort in the world, famous for its 660-foot-long front porch that gets decked out each spring with more than 2,000 red geraniums.
The Grand Hotel's time-capsule setting made it the perfect location for the 1980 film "Somewhere in Time." The time-travel romance starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour became a cult classic. Every October, fans reunite at the hotel for receptions and movie screenings during its popular Somewhere in Time weekend.
Continue up Cadotte, then veer right onto Carriage Rd., to Surrey Hills. Here you may see more of the island's 4-legged workers, out in the pastures enjoying a little rest and relaxation. Mackinac Island Carriage Tours has a museum here, with neat old photos and displays of early carriages. Admission is free. Return on Carriage Rd. to the intersection with Huron Rd. If you've had enough sightseeing for the day, return downtown the way you came. If you're ready for more, turn left on Huron Rd. and follow it to the Governor's Summer Residence. That's where we'll start the next section.

About the author: Tina Lassen is a nationally published freelance writer. She has written extensively about Michigan and the Great Lakes region. Her travel features have appeared in dozens of magazines, including Midwest Living and National Geographic Adventure. Tina is the author of the comprehensive travel guide Moon Handbooks Michigan, as well as National Geographic's Guide to America's Outdoors: The Great Lakes. Tina also wrote the VTT tour, Temple Square And Downtown Salt Lake City, available as a QuietGuide.


Images and an interview with your local resource, Tina Lassen, available upon request.
________________________________________________

Please send suggestions and comments to:
mailto:editor@travelwriters.com
TO SUBSCRIBE:
http://www.travelwriters.com

If you would prefer not to receive press releases from Travelwriters.com, click here:
http://main.travelwriters.com/redirect/prun.asp?ID=38791&e=admin@visualtraveltours.com
*************************************************
Marco Polo Publications, Inc.
475 Central Avenue, Suite 302
Saint Petersburg, FL 33701
T: 727-894-3343, F: 727-894-3230, info@travelwriters.com
*************************************************