Gwynedd Council’s Tourism, Marketing and Customer Care Service has been shortlisted for a national award for its success in promoting the area as a premiere tourism destination.
Gwynedd Council is one of 53 organisations reaching the finals of the National Tourism Awards for Wales 2010, out of 400 nominated companies and services.
The Council is responsible for the Snowdonia Mountains and Coast marketing brand and will find out if it has topped the Digital Marketing category during the black-tie event, held at The Vale Resort, Cardiff, on Thursday, 21 October.
The awards are organised by Visit Wales and the Wales Tourism Alliance and aims to showcase the very best that Wales has to offer for the discerning tourist by recognising quality service, a warm welcome and a professional approach to looking after visitors.
Gwynedd Council has been nominated for its effective use of digital marketing and how it has targeted and channelled potential visitors to the www.visitsnowdonia.info website. The site was developed by the Bangor based company WiSS Ltd and by working with Caernarfon firm Aqua Marketing more than 260,000 visits have been made to the website, with over 1.7million pages viewed.
One of its most successful digital campaigns was the use of new media to promote area during the run-up to BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend, held at the Faenol near Bangor during May 2010. The service took full advantage of the fact that Europe’s largest free music festival – and 40,000 revellers – rolled in to the area, by creating a dedicated section to the website which included information about attractions in the area, travel and transport information and accommodation options.
Normally the Visit Snowdonia website receives around 1,000 page views or 46,000 hits per day but on the day when BBC Radio 1 announced the line-up for the event it jumped dramatically to more than 56,000 page views or 686,000 hits.
Gwynedd’s Tourism and Marketing Service is also making innovative use of the internet for all marketing campaigns, such as using social media like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube; using the internet to let customers know about special offers and deals; and making the best and most efficient use of search engines. The internet campaign works hand in hand with more traditional campaigns such as leaflets and brochures.
Councillor Dewi Lewis, Gwynedd Council’s Development portfolio leader, said: “We are delighted that Gwynedd’s Tourism, Marketing and Customer Care Service has been nominated for this award, in the industry’s equivalent of the Oscars. We all have our fingers crossed for further success on Thursday evening.
“Using the internet to promote Gwynedd’s attractions and services is central to our work. People today are far more likely to search the web for ways to spend their leisure time and being in tune with what our customers want is essential so that we work in the most efficient and effective manner.
“I’m also delighted that a number of local businesses have been nominated in other categories, showing that Gwynedd has a thriving leisure and tourism sector which can compete with the best in Wales.”
Visit the Snowdonia Mountains and Coast website at www.visitsnowdonia.info
