Wikimedia, the founding father of Wikipedia, could be on its way to create a competitor to TripAdvisor or Lonely Planet. New reports have stated that the board of trustees has voted to approve a completely ad-free travel guide, which will, supposedly, be built in partnership with other travel wikis.
Administrators from Wikitravel and Wikivoyage are believed to have pledged to work with Wikimedia. As per the Wikitravel administrators, their own site, which is owned by Internet Brands and doesn’t show much promise, will get a second chance with the new project.
According to a Skift report, although nothing really is known about the project, serious development is set to start in September. Moreover, the free guide will be written by users and supervised by Wikitravel and Wikivoyage administrators, and some content could also be imported from those sites.
It is believed that Wikimedia may not replace established travel guides, but it could come up with new plans for user-provided information and reviews.
However, as far as new update on Wikimedia is concerned, it is being said that that the Board of Trustees of the Foundation has not voted, as of yet, to approve a Wikimedia-based travel site. The board has also requested another six weeks for discussion before a final decision is made.
More reports on this will soon follow.