Instead of relying solely on Savannah’s beloved Spanish moss and cobblestone streets to attract visitors, Visit Savannah has unveiled a more interactive website that lets users see the city through the eyes of its visitors.
The city’s convention and visitors bureau celebrated the redesign of visitsavannah.com with a party Wednesday attended by about 60 guests at the Telfair Academy. The launch of the website coincides with Visit Savannah’s new “That’s Savannah” ad campaign.
Joseph Marinelli, Visit Savannah president, said the way people interact with the Internet has changed and his organization needed to get ahead of the curve.
The result is a site that has interactive maps, weather updates, provides trip ideas and special offers, allows users to directly book hotel accommodations and offers user-generated reviews of restaurants, attractions and special events.
“Our goal was not to deliver a state-of-the-art website,” said Marinelli. “Our goal instead was to deliver a best-in-class website.”
The challenge was to design a website that incorporates the best of social media but makes visiting third-party sites such as Google, Travelocity and Priceline unnecessary. So Facebook and Twitter feeds are integrated on the site, as well as Yelp and TripAdvisor reviews.
“You can plan your whole itinerary without leaving the site,” Marinelli said.
Last summer, about 15 potential design companies were narrowed down to five from around the country. Though Atlanta-based Studiocom had never designed a travel site, it was ultimately chosen by a Visit Savannah online task force for its more risky and out-of-the-box approach, said Marinelli.
Juan Fernando Santos, CEO of Studiocom, told Wednesday’s crowd that his team came down to Savannah and took thousands of photos and spoke with residents about local hot spots even before they got to work.
Amy Small, associate creative director at Studiocom, said a tourism site for any city must have listings, events and other travel information. But what really excites travelers is a feeling of excitement about discovering someplace new.
“So that’s what we set out to do with the new VisitSavannah.com — tell the city’s story in a way that allowed travelers to really feel what Savannah’s all about,” she said in a video released with the new website.
“That’s what makes it so unique. Every detail, from the original photography and bold iconography, to the way we integrated other visitors’ recommendations reviews right into the site experience. It’s all inspired by Savannah itself.”
The Golden Isles, Asheville, N.C., St. Augustine, Fla., and Charleston, S.C., are in competition with Savannah for the same visitors. So in addition to a redesigned site, Visit Savannah is rolling out a creative ad campaign showcasing not only Savannah’s old-world charm but its “quirky” side as well, Marinelli said.
“If Charleston is that conservative, affluent and kind of snooty-type city, then let’s embrace Savannah’s role as the quirky cousin,” he said.
The “That’s Savannah” ads juxtapose the city’s historic beauty with everyday facets of life.
In one, tourists on Savannah Slow Ride’s self-propelled tour vehicles cycle down Broughton Street above a caption that reads: “You call it a crazy night out. We call it a Tuesday.”
It’s a two-prong strategy aimed at the 80 percent of travelers who drive to Savannah, as well as the remainder who fly, said Melissa Yao Hille, Visit Savannah’s chief marketing officer.
However, the website and ads are also marketed toward people considering starting a business, buying a home or going to college in Savannah. He said data shows the city’s visitors are younger, have higher incomes and on average stay longer (2.5 nights up from 1.9 nights) than several years ago.
At Wednesday’s launch party, Mayor Edna Jackson congratulated everyone who worked on the projects, which she said would move the city forward.
This year is already shaping up to be a great one for tourism, said Marinelli.
He reported hotel and motel tax collections for the first quarter of 2013 are up 16 percent compared to 2012, which by year’s end produced a record $17 million in revenue. Approximately 12 million people visited last year.