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VirtualTourist, one of the first brands focused on providing online guides to travellers, is being axed by its parent company.

TripAdvisor subsidiary Smarter Travel Media, home to a number of high-profile content sites, will turn off the lights to VirtualTourist during the latter stages of the first quarter of 2017.

Members will be officially notified of the closure shortly.

An official at Smarter Travel says the site has seen “declining engagement” in recent years, not least with the growth of Facebook, leading it to make the “tough decision”.

The company will, instead, focus its “efforts and resources on the areas of our business that have stronger growth potential”, the official adds.