Kent Attractions brings together more than 60 of the county’s visitor attractions, from castles and gardens to museums, animal parks, heritage sites and family experiences. Its role is to inspire people to discover more of Kent and help its members attract more visitors.
The existing website wasn’t doing either job well enough. Navigation and search made discovery difficult, the mobile experience felt dated and some attractions struggled for visibility. At the same time, members needed an easier way to manage their own content and a clearer sense of the value their membership was delivering.
Working directly with a committee representing several of Kent’s attractions, we set out to create a new digital gateway to the county, built equally around the people looking for somewhere to go and the attractions hoping they’ll choose them.
Heartbeat
People don’t necessarily begin by knowing the name of an attraction. They might have children to entertain, a rainy Saturday to fill, relatives visiting for the weekend or simply want to find somewhere they’ve never been before. So rather than building the experience around a directory, we designed it around discovery.
The new tourism website design lets people search by location and type of visit, browse ideas such as Hidden Kent, Free Outings, Gardens and the Kent Coast, explore what’s happening throughout the year and save favourites for later. Events, offers and seasonal inspiration give people reasons to return rather than only visiting when they already have a destination in mind.
Behind all of this sits the other half of the experience: the members themselves. Attraction pages give each organisation space to showcase what makes it worth visiting, while improved content management makes it easier for members to keep their listings and events up to date. Bronze, Silver and Gold memberships provide different levels of exposure across the website and Kent Attractions’ wider marketing activity.
Impact
The result transforms Kent Attractions from a listings website into a much more useful tourism platform, connecting inspiration, search, events, offers, maps and individual attractions in one experience.
For visitors, it’s a starting point for answering one of the most important questions in tourism – ‘what shall we do?’ For members, it’s a stronger collective shop window for Kent. The website works alongside newsletters, social media, print and other member benefits to drive awareness and referrals, while making the value of joining much clearer to prospective attractions.
