Our visitor experience creates a significant new and inclusive free access resource for our coastal communities and their visitors to engage with, helping to inclusively support a deeper understanding of our natural and cultural environments.  

We include carefully selected artefact display resources. We use evocative visualisations, 3D interactive elements, immersive and interactive Virtual Reality, (VR), mobile Augmented Reality (AR) App, Film documentary and a vivid, original audio composition.  

A series of linked citizen science workshops accompanies the visitor experience based in Waterford.

A series of exciting performance based events accompany the visitor experience in Ceredigion.

Group visits to the Portalis visitor experience can be booked  through our museum partner websites.

A linked mobile Augmented Reality (AR) App is also in development, launching a little later within the Portalis project. Our App links our museum based Legacy visitor experience with our two new cross border cultural and experiential tourism networks currently being established and the existing Irish and Welsh coastal destination experiences. This added resource supports cross border communities and their visitors in availing of curated travel options when planning their cross border visits and accessing the full range of rich natural and cultural environment resources available on the project website. 

Our visitor experience resources support our cross border communities in working together to grow our sustainable tourism networks contribution to our blue and green economies as our coastal communities adapt to climate change impacts, while also working together to help protect our cultural and natural environment. 

To help support the growth of our two cross border networks after our visitor experience launch we also reach out to our more remote coastal communities by providing an inclusive  travelling VR supported Exhibit Pod at both Irish and Welsh network events, providing a sample of the resources available at our on-site museum based visitor experiences.  

Working with local governance, Portalis visitor experience resources are also linked with our local and national Development Plans, Climate Change Action Plans and local Biodiversity Action Plans. Residents and visitors can upload their observations and feedback to the Portalis website resource section, creating a rich resource for future planning. For example, a potential initiative emerging from our Portalis awareness raising events is the linked development of a coastal heritage citizen science based coastal erosion storm warden programme, supported by our Portalis cross border networks. 

As our pilot project draws to a close later this year our temporary visitor experience will evolve into a permanent Legacy visitor experience and will continue to provide a free access community resource for our coastal communities and visitors. The Portalis Legacy Visitor Experience is again based at our two key museums and presents findings from our work, providing continued support for the sustainable development of our two cross-border cultural and experiential tourism networks.