Melbourne

Melbourne, Australia, played host to the world’s first remote-controlled tourist over the weekend, when it took part in a project to boost the level of tourism in the city.

The Tourism Victoria project involved two real people acting as if controlled by a remote, by responding to requests from the public to explore various parts of Melbourne. They wore helmet-mounted cameras and microphones to track their travels, with the resulting footage streamed live online and reaching every continent except Antarctica.

The remote-controlled tourists travelled to landmarks such as Federation Square in Melbourne’s city centre, the Yarra River and Melbourne Cricket Ground. They also responded to requests from others urging them to talk to and hug strangers, have a drink in certain bars, dance in the streets and even to free lobsters from a seafood eatery.

People from more than 1,823 cities played with the virtual tourists, who were also directed to consume 21 coffees and 14 desserts at a selection of the city’s eateries over the weekend.

The tourists were controlled by the public by using the Twitter hashtag #MelbourneRCT or visiting the Facebook page www.facebook.com/playmelbourne.