Fans can use the app to buy Graceland tour tickets, set visiting plans from the official schedule, see special guests, get offers and keep up with the latest Elvis Week news. It is an example of how mobile can enhance the on-the-go consumer?s experience in tourism.

?Since our visitors are on the Graceland grounds for many hours a day throughout the week, their phone is the best way to navigate through Elvis Week on a daily basis,? said Kevin Kern, director of communications for Elvis Presley Enterprises.

?This app offers insight and guidance on how to best experience Elvis Week, and push notifications allow visitors to get the very latest information about the festival.?

Each year, fans globally converge on Graceland in Memphis, TN, for a remembrance of Mr. Presley, who died Aug. 16, 1977 at age 42. The Aug. 8-16 event, which includes concerts, panel discussions and dances, culminates with a candlelight vigil on Aug. 15, the anniversary of the eve of Mr. Presley?s death.

One of the app?s features is a virtual candle that can be used during the vigil.

The app also can inform fans when events are sold out or when Graceland traffic is backed up.

There are no ads on the app, but it includes a section devoted to Graceland?s promotional partners, mostly other attractions in the area, with descriptions, Web links and phone numbers.

Fans can take a photo or choose a photo from their library and apply Elvis Week themed stickers and photo frames to represent their voices when they share content on social media.  

By going to the app?s home page, the user first clicks on navigational links to the Elvis Week schedule, a Graceland map, latest news, videos and photos, social media, celebrity bios and other material. He or she then scrolls down to find specific content in each category. 

 

Last year, Graceland unveiled a new multimedia iPad tour using iBeacon technology to enhance the experience for guests touring Mr. Presley?s former home. 

Graceland claimed to be one of the first historic homes in the United States to offer an interactive iPad tour that provided a fully immersive experience for guests. 

The new tour additions were part of an effort by the Presley family, Elvis Presley Enterprises and the new owners of the Graceland operation to improve the Graceland attraction in order to ensure its future success. 

?We?ve kept [the app] as simple as possible so that our visitors can go right to what they need in order to make the most out of their Elvis Week experience and share with their friends online,? Mr. Kern said.