New Discover Folkestone web site to tempt tourists

AFTER a month when its website attracted a record 379,175 hits, the Discover Folkestone, Hythe & Romney tourism marketing organisation has switched to a new inter-active system which provides potential visitors with more information and improved facilities to find and book inspected accommodation. Linked to the destination management system operated by VisitKent and other information providers and to major search engines the new-look www.discoverfolkestone.co.uk also gives local tourism businesses more opportunities to access regional, national and international markets.

DFH&RM manager Chris Kirkham said that the website had been redesigned to showcase Shepway as one of southern England's most up and coming holiday and leisure destinations, attractive and interesting to visitors of all ages and interests.

"The system is easy to navigate and provides instant and up-to-date information about where to stay, what to see and do, where and when festivals and events are being held. Links from a home page which presents distinctive selling points of the destination lead users to detailed information to help them plan their visit and, if they wish, to book accommodation. An additional facility to buy tickets for entertainment and events in advance is in the planning stage.

"Because live information is shared with tourist offices and marketing organisations throughout the county and farther afield, the data base is a really powerful networking tool to attract stay-over and day visitors to Folkestone and its neighbouring coastal towns and countryside.

"A short commissioning period will enable it to be tested in time for campaigns to boost late summer/autumn and 2009 business across the range of enterprises which benefit from the spending of visitors - hotels, guesthouses, B&Bs and other accommodation providers, restaurants, attractions, entertainment venues and, importantly shops, too. We are confident that it will be prove to be an even more successful marketing tool than its predecessor. Editorial content will be managed in-house and frequently refreshed, an arrangement which has improved monthly 'hits' performance by more than fifty times since it was introduced at the beginning of 2007".

The website and booking system, funded by a grant from the Channel Corridor Partnership, is DFR&RM's first major project since Kent County Council, Shepway District Council and Folkestone Town Council joined commercial members of the organisation earlier this year to provide all-district information and marketing services.

Lib Dem Folkestone Town Council Group Leader Tim Prater welcomed the new site. He said:

"Chris Kirkham and the team have done great work improving the Discover Folkestone web site, and this new site will enhance their ability to promote our town even more."

Sandra Matthews-Marsh, chief executive of VisitKent, said that DFH&RM was to be congratulated on the launch of an attractive new website site which would do a great job in highlighting all there is to see and do in Folkestone, Hythe and Romney Marsh.

"We also welcome the addition of the destination management system to the site, which allows visitors to book their accommodation online prior to their stay, as this completes another part of the 24/7 online booking system initiative led by VisitKent".

Coinciding with the launch of the website, Discover Folkestone, Hythe & Romney Marsh has published a new edition of its Holiday and Leisure Planner, packed with information to promote the widening appeal of the destination. Fifty thousand copies - 25 per cent more than the previous edition - will be distributed, mainly via key outlets in UK and near-Continent markets; the 36-page guide will be also mailed in response to postal, telephone and e-mail enquiries generated by an enhanced programme of marketing activities.

Chris Kirkham said that the thrust of messages in both the new website and guide was that the regeneration of Folkestone, as the hub of an area with unique scenic and historic assets and attractions, had made it a twenty-first century seaside resort able to provide visitors with new experiences as well as traditional ways to spend holiday and leisure time.