IP outlines upcoming changes to tourism website
The Islands' Partnership has outlined some of what we can expect from the new-look tourism website.
Visitislesofscilly.com is due to relaunch in the next two weeks.
IP Executive director David Jackson told Radio Scilly that the new version will take all the best bits from the existing site, which he described as the "real flagship" of the organisation's work.
He said: "It’s served us incredibly well. For a site that’s between four and five years old, we continue to get plaudits for it in terms of how fresh it is and how well it works for businesses on the islands.
"[The new site] will have more focus on the seasons because clearly what we’re trying to do is grow the market and extend the season. So what we need to do better is to tell the stories around spring, around winter, to try to tempt people to come over for those periods rather than it just being a summer destination.
"There will be lots more content around the actual islands themselves, telling a bit more of a story around the personalities and the things to do on each of the islands and the uninhabited islands as well. More content generally and of course the bookability as well, which is really the thrust behind the whole project. We're integrating a new polling engine behind the scenes so businesses can still use the booking systems that they might use for their existing websites but rather than having to worry about updating several calendars and systems they can do it via the one system and it feeds through to Visit Isles of Scilly where the majority of customers ultimately start their search."
David urged any businesses that have not yet updated their records or been in touch about how they want to display their calendars and availability to contact the IP.
He added: "Please get in touch because it’s getting to that stage now where we really need to hear from you to make the most of when it goes live."