The ever-expanding Alabama Mural Trail is now offering interested travelers a new, free digital passport. The passport will allow the participants to gather points after visiting some of the murals found along the trail. Those points can then be exchanged for prizes.

Candace Johnson, the University of Alabama Center for Economic Development’s director of tourism and community development, discussed the passports and the growth of the trail.

“The digital passport will drive people to visit new neighborhoods and cities they might not have wandered before,” she said. “We want to encourage people to stay longer and travel further.

“Since the launch of the trail two years ago, we’ve already seen city leaders bring new murals to their community, making Alabama a more vibrant place to visit, live and work.”

The expansion of the Mural Trail is being led by the UACED and tourism and economic development organizations.

Travelers can sign up online for a free digital passport, which is sent via text message and email — no app to download. Then travelers simply turn on their location services while visiting a mural on the trail to check in. Travelers also can snap a picture in front of the mural, tag @alabamatourist on Facebook and Instagram, and use #SweetHomeMurals.

Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News.