Guinness Storehouse on Google Business View
In January Ireland’s number one international visitor attraction, the Guinness Storehouse, opened its doors to a global virtual audience by joining Google Business View. Google has recently launched Google’s Business View and Guinness is one of Ireland’s first businesses to avail of this virtual feature.
So, what is this latest addition to Google all about and what will it do for the Guinness attraction? It is a free 360° interactive tour that allows users to virtually travel across all seven floors of the Guinness Storehouse and its 159,219 square foot building. The Google Business View will also allow you travel to the top floor where the Gravity Bar is situated and you will be able to do all this from your laptop, iPad or other digital devices live.
This promises to extend the Guinness Storehouse’s 1,269,371 guests – the estimated number in 2014 – that visit the Guinness Storehouse every year, to a global audience; regardless of whether they are able to travel to Dublin in person.
“The Guinness Storehouse is a truly unique tourism product and we are proud to be one of the first in Ireland to offer Google Business View. A picture is worth a thousand words, and now with Google Business View people will have the ability to search online and walk through the doors of the Guinness Storehouse. Last year we welcomed over 1.26 million people to the Guinness Storehouse and with this state-of-the-art technology we can bring the experience to life with 360 degree panoramic imaging to a global audience,” Managing Director of the Guinness Storehouse, Paul Carty, commented at the launch of Google Business View.
“The Guinness Storehouse is continually enhancing and developing its visitor experience; tourism offerings are becoming more innovative and consumers are embracing new technologies to enhance their experiences. The Guinness Storehouse strives to be at the forefront of these advancements, looking at new and innovative ways to enhance our brand experience.”
Ed Parsons, Geospatial technologist at Google UK, said that ‘the processes that are involved with the Guinness Storehouse are of interest to a wide range of people and people are generally interested in the history, i want to buy accutane heritage and craft’ of this world famous Irish dry stout. For a global audience this will be the ideal way of exploring this place in detail by availing of a virtual tour that brings you right into the heart of the Storehouse.
The Gravity Bar, the highest bar in Dublin city, is a favourite with visitors to Guinness Storehouse with a breath-taking view over Dublin City and is located 44 metres off the ground. In the past, it has been visited by many famous people, including HM Queen Elizabeth the Second, the Coronas, Hollywood A-Lister Tom Cruise, Dean Norris (known for his role of Hank Schrader in hit TV show Breaking Bad), Meghan Markle, The Script and Chris O’Dowd to name a few.
Since the Guinness Storehouse has opened its doors in 2000 approximately 13 million visitors has enjoyed a visit there and on average 93% of all visitors are international. According to Guinness, in 2013, the top 5 nationalities who visited the Storehouse were from the USA, United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy.
Guinness Storehouse now employs nearly 150 workers and it is estimated that 1 in 2 holiday-makers who visit Dublin, visit the Storehouse. Here are some Guinness Storehouse facts:
- The storehouse was erected between 1902 and 1904 and was built by Arthur Guinness Son & Co. Ltd for use as a fermentation house
- The Storehouse building is 125 feet high, 170 feet long and 151 feet wide
- The Chicago style steel framed building was the first of its kind, and was built to act as barrier to the elements
- The steel for the building was provided by Sir William Arrol and Company and was converted into a sterile plant in the 1950’s when the wooden tuns were replaced by aluminium ones
- The Storehouse could hold 39,300 barrels in 1960, but by the 1980’s it had become unsuitable for adapting to modern brewing processes
- In 1986 the storehouse closed its doors and decided to move location and in October 1997 plans were accepted to develop the Storehouse into a public visitor’s centre at St. James’s Gate
- The Guinness Storehouse opened its door to visitors in December 2000
