Press release 6 August 2015
VISITWILTSHIRE UNVEILS ‘NEW-LOOK’ WEBSITE
6 August 2015
VisitWiltshire has unveiled a new-look website – www.visitwiltshire.co.uk - featuring a series of new functions and interactive elements to make it more user-friendly for tablets and smartphones.
The website currently receives 1.2million unique visitors a year and is one of the main ways people find out about what the county has to offer.
The website has been redeveloped to reflect Wiltshire tourism’s new ‘Timeless’ brand positioning and is now fully responsive for all devices ranging from super desktop to mobiles.
There is new functionality, enhanced itinerary planning and what’s on sections, to assist visitors wishing to find out more and plan their visit to Wiltshire.
Fiona Errington, VisitWiltshire’s Marketing Manager, said: “We are delighted with our new-look website which is an important resource for consumers wishing to visit Wiltshire.
“Over 50% of our visitor traffic to the website comes from mobiles or tablets so making this website fully responsive and therefore increasing its usability factor was high on our agenda. We anticipate usage on mobiles and tablets will grow further to increase unique visitors to the website,” she added.
New elements include enhanced images, graphics, Instagram feed and video plus new social media feeds for partners. The ‘What’s On’ calendar has been upgraded and the new itinerary planner will enable visitors to select different products with the distance between venues being calculated automatically.
There are additional top 10 highlights, including places to walk, cycle and visit free of charge as well as pet friendly places to visit.
The Wiltshire and Salisbury Apps are also being redesigned and will both be available later this month. The introduction of geo-fencing will enable visitors to react to special offers as and when they are in the county and near a place of interest. This can be a great way to get passing visitors to stop and stay longer.
Philip Alford, Chairman of VisitWiltshire’s Online Marketing Group commented, “VisitWiltshire worked with partner businesses within their digital online marketing group. This forum allowed us to seek opinions and feedback on functionality, usability and design from different businesses within the tourism sector.”
The new-look website has been unveiled a few months after VisitWiltshire was ranked number one in the first English Tourism Social Media Index, produced by social media agency Umpf. Featuring 126 regional tourism bodies in England, VisitWiltshire topped the table, with Visit Cornwall ranking 2nd and VisitLondon 3rd.
In addition to the website VisitWiltshire has recently launched a new photo library, available for group operators, partners and press to promote tourism to Wiltshire. This resource has also been used to support the creative look and feel of the refreshed website design.
• Check out the new-look VisitWiltshire website - www.visitwiltshire.co.uk
• Follow us on social media Twitter and Instagram @VisitWiltshire and like us on Facebook Use #timeforwiltshire
For further information or to arrange a press visit contact Florence Wallace, PR Manager, flowallace@visitwiltshire.co.uk or tel. 01722 341309 or 07436 588860.
Note to editors:
Established in August 2011, VisitWiltshire is the official Tourist Board for Wiltshire. It is a private sector membership organisation representing over 630 partners. VisitWiltshire's priority is to grow the county's Visitor Economy by raising awareness of the destination and generating additional tourism visits and spend. Wiltshire's Visitor Economy currently generates an estimated £1.5billion and supports over 28,000 jobs.
The following albums are available for media to use in print and/or online for the promotion of tourism to Wiltshire. Any photos used must be credited to www.visitwiltshire.co.uk, unless otherwise stated in the title of the photo. Full terms and conditions can be found here.
• Timeless Wiltshire - https://www.flickr.com/gp/129320754@N03/Su6fsy
• Timeless Nature - https://www.flickr.com/gp/129320754@N03/Q6B2cg
• Timeless Wonders - https://www.flickr.com/gp/129320754@N03/a1y9C4
• Be here in No Time - https://www.flickr.com/gp/129320754@N03/2Dhv9s
• Time for Wiltshire - https://www.flickr.com/gp/129320754@N03/pD8T8s