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Quick Guide to Tourism Websites

Where are you heading off on holiday next? If you run a tourism business, you'll be counting on visitors making the decision to come here. Millions of tourists flock to Scotland every year with money to spend, so it would be very nice indeed if some of it ended up in your bank account. Especially as the Scottish Executive's ambition is to increase the amount that visitors spend here by 50% by 2015. The local Enterprise agencies are right behind the Executive's efforts, and offer a range of support services to help, including making the most of the internet.

A few years ago it was only the larger and well established tourism businesses that had a presence on the World Wide Web. Nowadays, it is now very much the norm for businesses of all shapes, sizes and types to have a website. Not because it's the "in" thing to have, but because it's realised just how essential it is to have one as a selling tool.

There can be many things that put people off getting a site up and running for their business. Do any of these sound familiar? "Oh, I just have a little bed and breakfast. What good is a website to me?", "It costs thousands of pounds to get a website up and running..doesn't it?", "I know someone who got their brother's friend's 14-year-old nephew to make them one in his spare time, and it didn't bring them any business!"

Well, whatever type of tourism business you're in, you need visitors to know that you exist - obvious, I know. Even if you're running a modest bed and breakfast, just do a search on Google for "bed and breakfast" and see how many others are already online. One way many of these people look at their websites is that it's not "spending" money - it's "investing": for every pound you put into it, they expect to get more than one pound back."

As the use of the internet has exploded over recent years, its users have come to expect better and better sites. Gone are the days when the 14-year-old nephew knocking together a few pages in an afternoon would suffice; and with issues like accessibility laws and search engine placement to contend with, it's not something you'd want to leave in inexperienced hands.

There are unique experiences that you can offer on the internet like virtual tours. People can take a look around your visitor attraction or accommodation on their PC or Mac, and make the decision to come and spend their money with you. There are companies right here in the Borders that can provide this service.

Whether you're running a visitor attraction, accommodation or whatever , it is very easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day running of the business, and put marketing and online plans on the back burner. Don't put it off and don't get left behind.

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