South Carolina Gets New Official State Tourism Web Presence
April 27, 2010
CHARLESTON, SC – April 26, 2010 – The South Carolina DepartmentofParks, Recreation & Tourism (SCPRT) has re-launched its visitorwebsite, www.DiscoverSouthCarolina.com,with an improved, simplified design and features that make exploringthe Palmetto State easier, faster and more entertaining.
The site integrates the new Made for Vacation marketing message withstreamlined content, improved navigation and search capabilities, Googlemapping, social networking links and e-newsletter subscriptions.
All of the agency’s leisure tourism advertising – print, television andonline – directs consumers to the re-designed site, where consumers canresearch their trip, request a visitor guide or view the guide onlineand soon, book a trip.
Consumers continue the strong trend of informing their leisure traveldecisions with online information. South Carolina is staying in front ofthem by further enhancing our online presence, said SCPRT DirectorChad Prosser. He noted that Google recently found that people search anaverage of 22 websites before making a travel booking and that,according to a new report from Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, more people inthe U.S. and Western Europe now rely on the Internet for travelinformation than on friends and acquaintances.
Our potential visitors want information at their fingertips, 24/7, andthat’s what we are delivering, Prosser said.
The new home page prominently features the new South Carolina Insidersprogram. Six state residents are blogging and posting stories and videosabout their experiences in South Carolina throughout the year. Topicareas include Family Travel, Golf, Food, Outdoor, Less Traveled and Arts& Culture.
The Insiders program lets us tell prospective visitors about SouthCarolina from a personal perspective, said Prosser. The constantinflux of blog postings and first-person articles gives consumers goodreason to come back to the website over and over again.
The new website also includes more opportunities for tourism partners todeliver their marketing messages to a highly qualified audience,Prosser said. Last year, www.DiscoverSouthCarolina.com had 5.1 millionvisits to the site, up 4.5 percent from the prior year.
By late August, the site also will include a booking widget, an enhancedvideo gallery, more travel deals, downloadable brochures and a new artsand culture e-newsletter.
The Arkansas-based interactive agency, Aristotle, created the site forSCPRT in collaboration with the state’s ad agency, the bounce agency inGreenville, S.C.
