Matador Network and Rye Chamber have introduced an AI guide for visitors, offering a low-cost alternative to the town’s closed information centre.
Matador Network has helped Rye Chamber bring Captain Pugwash into the town’s tourist information service through an AI guide built on the GuideGeek platform. Visitors can use the tool through the Visit Rye website or WhatsApp to receive tailored travel suggestions, itineraries and answers to tourism questions in the character’s distinctive style. The project links a familiar local cultural figure with a practical digital service for a destination that has lacked a dedicated information centre.
Rye’s tourist information centre closed in April 2023 after funding constraints forced its closure, creating a gap for a town whose economy depends heavily on visitors. The new service is financed through Levelling Up capital funding secured by Rye Chamber and facilitated through Rother District Council. Its digital format is intended to provide information without requiring permanent staff or premises, while allowing the content to remain current.
The guide can recommend restaurants, provide information about events and create itineraries for family days out. Visitors arriving in Rye can scan QR codes displayed on new Captain Pugwash signage at car parks and Station Approach before starting a conversation on WhatsApp, while local businesses will be able to display their own codes. The Visit Rye website also includes a film showcasing attractions in the town and surrounding area.
The project gives Rye a branded way to make tourism information available across digital channels rather than relying on a traditional visitor centre. Rye Chamber chair Jane Brook described it as the first technology of its kind used for tourism information in the UK, while Matador Network chief executive Ross Borden said Rye was the first UK destination to develop a custom AI tool on the GuideGeek platform. Those claims position the service as both a local access solution and a demonstration of destination-specific conversational technology.
The system has also been designed with possible future applications for Rye businesses, including footfall data capture, visitor notifications and town-wide promotions. The project places the Captain Pugwash character at the centre of those potential uses, following permission from the estate of creator John Ryan and work with his daughter, Isabel, on the original artwork. For Matador Network and Rye Chamber, the initiative shows how a destination can combine local identity, public funding and AI to replace part of a conventional visitor-information function.
