By the Visitor Manager, Julia White.

The Visitor Manager informed members that work had started on making improvements to the Windsor Tourism website, with a focus on making navigation easier; better use of images; improved information on tourist sites beyond the most well-known attraction; and use of integrated blogs around the site. The product pages were being improved, providing business partners with improved value for money. The Visitor Manager said that the site was moving away from offering online booking in favour of “polling” which would offer the end user price comparison across a number of online travel agents such as Booking.com.  It was felt this offered a more complete service to customers.

The Visitor Manager said that there had also been a renewed focus on social media use to engage with tourists. Following a recent competition on Facebook the number of visitors and followers to the page had increased, which in turn helped to grow the consumer database. A competition had also recently been launched on LinkedIn, as a means of improving engagement with business and corporate partners and raising the profile of the area.

The official visitor guide for 2018 was in the process of being put together. The Visitor Manager requested that any images partners would like used in the guide should be sent to her.

The Visitor Manager informed members that her team had now been integrated with the Corporate Communications team and the wider digital team, reporting to the Corporate Communications Manager and the Managing Director. The team was now based at the Station Master’s House in central Windsor following the closure of York House for refurbishment.

Members were told that planning approval had been given for digital screens to be installed within the existing monoliths around Windsor. These would be used for providing tourist information and advertising local tourist attractions and events. . It was hoped that the digital screens would go live in October.

The Visitor Manager informed members that the Tourism Development Day would be taking place at Ascot Racecourse on October 4, and that three speakers had been confirmed.

The Visitor Manager informed members that the Tourism Action Plan had been agreed earlier in the year and was in the process of being implemented; however not all of the task groups had been set up yet. It was hoped that this process would be completed in time for October. Industry partners had been invited to take part in the task groups, which in turn would form the steering group needed to fully implement the Action Plan.

Responding to questions from members, the Visitor Manager said:

·         The use of QR codes would be looked into following a suggestion from Susy Shearer. The Visitor Manager said she would speak to Susy Shearer about her ideas on how the screens could be used to promote cycling in the borough.

• Usage of the Windsor Wifi had shown a healthy increase, and an increase had also been noticed in the number of return users.  Glitches in the CitiWise app had been reported back to the software developer in order to improve it.

·         There had been a sharp increase in the number of people downloading the official Windsor and Maidenhead app. The ‘Destination’ app was not being switched off until the end of March.