How Does Sitefinity Help Drive a $600 Million Tourist Economy?

Learn how one city’s tourism organization updated its digital user experience with Progress Sitefinity, benefiting visitors, partners and the economy.

Tourism Barrie, the official destination marketing organization for the City of Barrie, faced the challenge of transforming its digital presence to better serve its audience. With the rise of digital tourism, it was crucial for Tourism Barrie to offer a seamless, informative and engaging online experience for potential visitors. They turned to Progress Sitefinity for a comprehensive solution and the results have been nothing short of impressive.

The Challenge

Tourism Barrie needed to revamp its website to enhance user experience, improve engagement and boost partner value. Their goal was to provide visitors with an easy-to-navigate platform that showcased the beauty and attractions of Barrie, fostering a strong connection between the city, its potential visitors and local businesses. The previous website was outdated and did not offer the flexibility needed to adapt to changing demands and shifting user expectations.

The Solution

Working with Flywheel Strategic to leverage the capabilities of Progress Sitefinity, Tourism Barrie transformed its online presence. The user-friendly content management system of Sitefinity enabled the team to easily update and manage content, keeping the website fresh and relevant. The platform’s robust features allowed for a highly customizable website, tailored to meet the specific needs of Tourism Barrie’s diverse audience. Leveraging Sitefinity Insight has been a key driver of success, with personas and conversions set up to measure ROI.

Key Benefits

1. Improved User Experience: The new website design, powered by Sitefinity, offers a visually appealing and intuitive interface. Visitors can now easily find information about attractions, events and accommodations, making it simpler to plan their trips to Barrie.
2. Personalization Capabilities: By utilizing Sitefinity Insight, Tourism Barrie can build more personalized digital experiences, which helps identify and attract new personas, boosting the visitor economy.
3. Significant Economic Impact: Initiatives, such as the “Sport Barrie” persona, have brought substantial economic benefits to the region, including more than $29 million from sporting events.
4. Multi-Channel Experience: The website redesign focused on mobile compatibility, providing a consistent experience across all device types and engaging visitors through campaigns like QR code posters.
5. Ongoing Success and Future Plans: The strong partnership with Progress and Flywheel continues to support Tourism Barrie’s success, with plans to add more personalization capabilities and explore artificial intelligence for enhanced marketing.

The Results

The solution contributes substantially to the $600 million in annual revenue that is driven by Tourism Barrie.

As explained by Tina Yui, Communications Manager, Tourism Barrie, “We do a lot of campaigns on the fly, and the ability to get landing pages built quickly and launch a campaign within days is vital for us.”

Tourism Barrie’s partnership with Flywheel Strategic and the use of Progress Sitefinity has been a game-changer. By investing in a powerful and flexible digital platform, they have successfully enhanced their online presence and strengthened the connection with their audience.

You can read more about this project and the results in our customer success profile.