Tourism constitutes the main economic engine of Seville. In recent years, the Seville capital has opted more than ever for outsourcing, with the opening of numerous hotels aimed at a visitor sector with greater purchasing power. This is progressing … couple to increase in cultural and leisure offerings in one of the cities with the largest old town in the entire European continent, which undoubtedly constitutes an attraction for regional, national and foreign visitors and even for Sevillians themselves who want to discover new corners of their city.
However, the capital Seville faces a significant challenge such as decentralization of tourist flows in order not to collapse the old town, where the best-known and most visited monuments are located – the Cathedral, the Alcazar and the Archives of the Indies, listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. In the forced reinvention, the Sevillians themselves and their access to a vast historical and cultural heritage of the city, sometimes far from the citizens themselves. Thus, alternatives and new experiences arise, such as Past sight experiencewhich put 21st century technology at the service of cultural dissemination and offer new ways to discover and deepen Sevillian heritage, both for locals and foreigners.
The strange sight of seeing a group of people walking around the center with a futuristic visor – “smart glasses” – aims to become more and more common. The Past View offer includes guided tourist routes that use these smart glasses to know the most emblematic places of the city in a different way. These devices use 360 degree 3D recreations which allow the user to view monuments as they were in the past. That is to say, an immersive experience is sold, as if it were a video game, but at street level, directly contemplating the real heritage elements through which one travels in time.
On the routes, you will be able to see reconstructions of certain places of the past accompanied by stories of historical figures.
Elena Luquefounding partner and project director of this company, emphasizes that all these innovations correspond to the company’s desire to give a twist to conventional tourism and go even further: “Traditional guided tours offer you the opportunity to ask someone to explain to you what is in a certain place, but here you also have the opportunity to see it with your own eyes. If there was a wall here before, you don’t need to imagine it, you can see it right now.
The participants in these routes, which in Seville are almost ten, including a special one on Holy Week that takes place every year during Lent, accompany the guide, who explains the details and resolves questions through a certain route with different points and stops. Arriving at each of them, users put on the smart glasses to be able to see the recreations, which have stories of historical figures linked to anniversaries and moments in the history of Seville which focus the visit. For example, in the Plaza de San Francisco you can see Cervantes leaving the Audiencia, today the Cajasol Foundation, and heading to the royal prison after being found guilty, all explained by a notary from the late 16th and early 17th centuries.
The approach, for the Sevillian himself
What type of tourist is this type of experience aimed at? The project director is clear about this. “All visitors are welcome, but we mainly address people who are not coming for the first time in Seville, who have already completed the basic visit and want to know more. That is to say, these guided itineraries are an extension of the more superficial or ordinary tours. Thus, an audience that already knows a little more about the subject, such as the local audience, will appreciate them more: “For us, the local audience is essential. We thought of it that way. We transform the Sevillian himself into a tourist», who discovers in another way places he already knows, but not in this way. Therefore, for those who visit Seville for the first time the level of knowledge may be very advanced, but for those who live in the Seville capital it means discovering new facets of a city that has so much to offer.
Recreation of the Plaza de San Francisco in modern times
Regarding the increasingly necessary redistribution of tourism from the most populated areas of the Center to other parts of the city, those responsible for Past View are conscious and emphasize that they are working on a route that reaches the northern area of the old townexploring the convents and churches structured around San Luis Street. They currently have one visiting Triana with enclaves like San Jorge Castle.
He level of satisfaction Among those who test these cultural and heritage contents it is “very high”, with very positive reviews and many people who have repeated the experience among the different guided routes offered. “They recommend us a lot and offer the itineraries as gifts. For Christmas, for example, we offer a sealed parchment to offer to family or friends. A gift that can bring us closer discover Seville with different eyes – those of the past or those of the future, depending on your point of view – and to bet on another type of tourism that reinvents itself and tries to go beyond Instagram photos and the rapid consumption of monuments.
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