Wikitravel Press launches Cairo/Alexandria guide

The official travel guide of Wikimania 2008 at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Alexandria, June 1, 2008 Wikitravel Press (www.wikitravelpress.com) today announced the publication of the new title Wikitravel Cairo. Also including detailed coverage of the port city of Alexandria as well as the Pyramids of Giza, the book is the official travel guide of the Wikimania 2008 conference, which will be held at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria, Egypt on July 17-19, 2008.

Wikitravel (www.wikitravel.org), the Webby Award-winning online travel guide, uses the wiki-based collaborative editing platform MediaWiki, made popular by Wikipedia. Wikitravel guides are built on the principle that travelers often get their best information from other travelers. The website offers over 40,000 travel guides in nineteen languages, with over 10,000 editorial contributions per week. Wikitravel won the Best Travel Website category in the 2007 Webby Awards.

Wikitravel Press builds upon this extraordinary community participation to create continually updated, reliable guidebooks. Carefully selected local editors polish and fact-check before publishing them through the one-click Yucca engine, with new editions of all guides released every month. Wikitravel Press books are sold online and available for shipping to over 200 countries. The books will use the same Creative Commons license as Wikitravel Web pages, so they can be copied and reused freely.

"We are delighted to work with the Wikimedia Foundation to provide a Wiki-based, Creative Commons-licensed open content travel guidebook for Wikimania conference attendees," said Jani Patokallio, managing editor for Wikitravel Press. "No longer will travelers be limited to hopelessly outdated, proprietary travel guides mouldering on dusty bookshop shelves: with Wikitravel Press, what you see on your screen is what you get in your book."

"The Cairo guide from Wikitravel Press showcases how MediaWiki technology and community contributions can be used to create up-to-date and reliable content," said Delphine Ménard, chapters coordinator for the Wikimedia Foundation. "Not only can Wikimania conferencegoers benefit from using the travel guide, they can also share their own finds with future travelers."

CONTACT: Jani Patokallio, +65-91859331, jani(at)wikitravelpress.com