Website of DMO: getting simple and complex at the same time

Website design, DMOs, navigation optimization

Since the tourism bureau started to build visitxxx.com, the view and content of the website were getting more and more appealing. There you can find massive information about the destination which are thrown to you desperately. However, the trend of the DMO’s website is changing rapidly due to the growth of mobile devices. When you use an iPhone or tablet to visit the website, the size of the screen limits the words you can provide in one page. And the websites are forced to struggle about how to cut all the complexity and offer your clients the easiest solution for their request.

With the simplification of the frontage, lots more efforts are made to build the user-friendly navigation and attract the light of sights. Other than the evolution in the format, tourism bureau are changing the way they try to attract the tourists from static displaying to more storytelling websites.  Pictures are the main role of the first impression and they have devote much design to the selection of the story-telling pictures. The best sites are adopting a similar full-width modular design, flat architecture, and streamlined navigation structure due to the demand for speed and efficiency on mobile (Greg Oates, 2016).  

The one who sets standard for this new trend of storytelling portals is visit California as shown above. Instead of implant the google maps once and for all, VisitCarlifornia built their own customized and mobile-friendly map for tourists. More subdivided types of customers are used by DMO to track the specific segmentation of the visitors. After downloading the data-free map, you can search for the nightlifes in Cal or the hot shopping malls in a few clicks. 

Local people are helping their DMO to promote their hometown with their own videos or pictures. They are valuable assets as the vivid stories of themselves are so touching for the people who are curious about the local life. One excellent example is the traveloregen.com who build the destination’s character by showing the real local people’s words and thoughts. We could get to know the place by their words:’ Oregon is a very special place. And we’re glad you like it. But it’s just a place with a bunch of mountains and lakes and trees and beaches and those kinds of things’. Bundling with the super funning video below, may you will find Oregen is the next destination for the summer vacation. 

Websites of destination marketing organizations are working out the best way to exhibit the real local life with more authentic contents and attractive navigation. The easier you explore the website, the more contribution they have made in the way you cannot see.



Cui ZHANG, Xiaoqing YU

Greg O. (2016). The 25 Best Tourism Websites in the World in 2016. [online] Available at: https://skift.com/2016/07/13/the-25-best-tourism-websites-in-the-world-in-2016/#1 [Accessed 26 Mar. 2017].