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Colchester Tourism Website Welcomes Millionth Visitor

 

COLCHESTER's Tourism team were celebrating today after learning that the VisitColchester.com website had served its millionth visitor during March.

The website, which was launched in January 2004, has grown in popularity and use year on year.  Commenting on the news, Visitor Services Officer, Claire Taylor, said:  "Unfortunately we don't know who the millionth visitor was but they could have been from anywhere in the world. We know that more and more people are following the trend to seek information on-line before they visit and the website figures prove that.  We also know that many local people also use the site for information about things to do and places to visit and we actively encourage this. 

"We are living in an information revolution, which has opened up new markets around the world and we are answering many more diverse enquiries now than before the website was launched." she added.

So is face-to-face information still needed in this virtual age?  "People are still coming into the VisitColchester Information Centre in their thousands every year and appreciating the personal touch and detailed local knowledge on offer from the team here."  said Claire.

Commenting on the news, the Council's Portfolio Holder for Culture & the Environment, Councillor Christopher Arnold, said:  "The information revolution is driving significant change and the tourism industry is at the forefront.  The Council's Visitor Services team is constantly reviewing its services so that people are served well on a face-to-face basis as well as by email, website and the 24:7 electronic information kiosk which is situated in the window of the centre on the corner of Queen Street.  These improvements demonstrate Colchester's ambition and intention to sustain and grow visitor activity, to retain its current visitor base and capitalise on the Colchester area's potential, especially in relation to the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics." 

And it's not just electronics.  "The team now has a raft of different skills compared to just five years ago." said Claire.  "For instance, as well as retailing and IT skills, the team now has training skills as we now travel out to local tourism businesses like B&Bs to train them how to update their availability on-line."

The website launched its on-line accommodation reservation service in May 2006 and relies on local accommodation businesses to keep the site up to date.  "Some chose to update, others prefer not to.  But since the launch of this service the site has taken more than £37,000 of accommodation reservations for over 1300 bednights in and around Colchester.  This is in addition to direct bookings with tourism businesses and bookings we may take over the desk at the VisitColchester Information Centre."  added Claire.

And there seems no slowdown in this trend.  Latest figures from Ofcom, the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industry, show that national internet subscriptions are estimated at being 17.5m with 85% of those being accessed by Broadband.

The VisitColchester website won Regional Tourism Website of the Year award in 2005 in the ‘Enjoy England Awards for Excellence' which are recognised as the premier awards for the tourism industry nationally.

The importance of website information services has also been acknowledged by the national body responsible for tourism, Enjoy England.  Last October the Colchester tourism team learnt that its VisitColchester Information Centre has been awarded ‘Official Partner' status by EnjoyEngland.

EnjoyEngland Official Partner status was granted to a select number of Tourist Information Centres which promote excellence and world class customer service.  The programme also recognised customers' increasing demand for and expectations of quality, accuracy and excellence.

Laurence Bresh, EnjoyEngland's General Manager, said: "To continue to compete with rival destinations and prepare the ground for the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, we must deliver excellence to visitors.  Tourist information providers are at the frontline of promoting this country and our goal is to make them our champions - the Gold medallists of English tourism.

ENDS

7 April 2008.