Visitscotland.com redevelopment

We're improving VisitScotland.com

Visitscotland.com is the primary source of tourism information for Scotland, playing a critical role in growing Scotland's visitor economy.

Our website is currently going through a redevelopment. This is based on extensive research into user behaviour as they plan holidays, as well as user testing.

If Scotland is to compete on the world stage, it's crucial the national tourism website is the best it can be. To do that, we must continuously evolve the website so it can showcase Scotland in an engaging way. 

• Learn more about our Betaphase
• Our ambition
• What's changing?
• What's staying the same?
• What needs to be done?
• How can I give feedback?

Betaphase

The redevelopment of visitscotland.com has moved into what we call 'Open Beta'. That means that we've launched the new website, alongside the existing website. 

What people will notice is that there's still work to be done and it's not the finished product. 

As part of the project, we've reviewed and refreshed all our content. However, anyone visiting the new website will notice that some pages and sections have yet to be completed.

We'll be adding new content and features over the coming months and amending the site based on user feedback.

The existing website is fully available during this time until we're confident that the new site is good to go. At that stage - and not before - we'll retire the old visitscotland.com.

It's hoped that the new website will be live, and the old site switched off in early 2023.

Our ambition

Our ambition is for the new visitscotland.com website to become much more focused on the needs of our users. It will continue to serve the tourism industry by driving referrals to businesses and growing the tourism economy in Scotland.

We're making it easier for users to find the information they need to plan their trip, aid conversion and enhance the user experience.

We're committed to continuously improving our online presence and working with local stakeholders to ensure that we link to relevant local sites that will enhance the visitor journey.

Visitscotland.com will continue to promote the key strengths and attractions of every region of Scotland.

What's changing?

The key updates we're working on include:

• Upgraded technology underpinning our website - we’ve replaced our Content Management System. This is the system behind the scenes that makes our website work. This allows us to use modern marketing techniques to present information to our users. It’ll also be quicker and easier to make changes and enhancements.
• New look and feel - the website has been designed around extensive research into user behaviour as they plan holidays, and thorough user testing. The new design showcases Scotland with a modern look.
• Revised customer journeys - we’re making it easier for users to find the information they need to plan their trip to aid conversion and enhance user experience. We’ve done lots of user testing to ensure that we’re meeting their needs.
• Using data from product listings - we’re pulling through data from product listings in more places across the website, including maps and itineraries.

What's staying the same?

• Business and tour web listings - listings will remain the same for now, so there are no major changes on individual business pages, although we will update the navigation and footer. The design will simply be refreshed.
• Product search - we’ve redesigned the product search form to make it easier for our users to find, and to distinguish it from the main website search, but the search itself will work in the same way as before.
• Language versions - the website will continue to be available in six languages to cater for our international audiences.

What needs to be done?

It's still a work in progress. Anyone visiting the new website may notice that some pages and sections have yet to be completed. The destinations section, for example, needs work as this content is updated most frequently and requires more collaboration with local organisations.   

We’re still working on completing the build and our team will continue to upload content over the coming months until we have a fully populated website.    

This content is still available on the existing website and users can navigate between the existing and new websites easily. 

Future plans include:

• The new website will feature real visitor stories and real-life experiences more prominently, and we’ll introduce the ability to embed Instagram content across the site. 

• We’ve redesigned our maps and have a little more work to do before we feature them across the website  

• We’re creating new features and content to promote responsible tourism and make it easier for our users to make sustainable choices. 

• We intend to integrate live travel information to show travel options, times, and prices. 

• New features will be developed to show users content that is relevant to their current location, both before they travel and once they’re in Scotland  

• Our new, intelligent systems will allow us to tailor content to the needs of individual users, based on their previous behaviour. 

How can I give feedback?

Our website has been designed around the needs of our users, so we’ll continue refining our journeys with lots of user testing (with consumers). We’re also keen to receive feedback from our tourism partners across the industry. 

The website will evolve over the coming months based on this feedback. 

Please take a look at the new design and should you have any feedback, you can use the feedback form on our new website. This can be found by clicking the 'Feedback' box on the left-hand side of your screen.