Designing the Experience: Why Web Design Matters in the Tourism Industry

Over the years, the tourism industry has evolved exponentially. In fact, it can be safely said, that as man’s expectations, perceptions, and way of life continue to shift, the sector also unceasingly transforms to match these changes. To date, a new generation of tech travelers emerge, the where, why, and how of traveling continue to face constant transformations and redefinition.

Gone were the days where agencies merely rely on distributing brochures, designing booths on travel conventions, and securing ads on TV and travel magazines to wow seeking travelers. To date, as man’s mode of living intertwines with the digital space, it’s no surprise that marketers are now embracing the online space for their advantage, giving birth to what we now deemed as “digital marketing.”

Web designs, in particular, come as a key aspect under this form of marketing. The travel and tourism industry, especially, take this area with relative seriousness. Here’s why:

Web Design: A Brief Introduction

As can be inferred from its name, “web design” refers to the process of designing a website. Generally, this encompasses planning, conceptualizing, building, and arranging of electronic elements until one arrives at the desired website.

However, while the word “design” is the only thing present, the process goes way beyond a page’s aesthetic value. In fact, more than dictating how things look, web design also covers how things should work. This means aside from securing a pleasing appearance, web designers also work to ensure that the design elements of the page help maximize the functionality of the site.

 

Elements of Web Design

Generally, web design involves the use and manipulation of varying visual and functional elements. Among these include:

 

Visual Elements

• Layout: As the name suggests, this refers to the way a site’s contents are arranged or laid out.
• Color: Choosing the right color scheme for your page comes as a key part of web design.
• Fonts: Aside from colors, fonts play a critical role in establishing the vibe of your website. Since there are fonts that are unreadable or unpleasant for many, web designers dedicate a portion of the process of determining the appropriate and safe-to-use fonts for a website.
• Spacing: From images, paragraphs, lines, to letters, everything on your website must follow the right and appropriate spacing.
• Graphics: What’s a site without some graphics? A bleak one, you’ll say. Incorporating powerful images, icons, logos, and clip art comes as an essential part of web design
• Content: Of course, while pictures are worth a thousand words, having a written text remains to be an integral part of a good website. When designing a site, securing relevant and useful written text comes as an important feature.

Functional Elements

• Navigation: From site structure, menus, search bars, to other navigation tools, good web design seeks to ensure that all these elements work to maximize the site’s usability.
• Speed: What could be more frustrating than a sloppy site? A slow one, of course. A site’s speed comes as one of the important functional elements in web design.
• Compatibility: This involves the process of designing a site that will adapt to all devices and browsers.
• User interaction: Every site visit is driven by a certain purpose. Web design includes the creation and proper arrangement of tools that will help increase user participation and involvement. Among these include comment boxes, email forms, opinion polls, and more.

 

Importance of Good Web Design

Now that you’ve been introduced to the basics of web design, it’s now time to proceed to the actual question: How does it relate to the tourism industry?

Here, we have rounded up the top ways on how good web design could benefit tour companies, travel agencies, hotels, and more.

Read on.

1. Builds trust and reinforces expertise

Whether you admit it or not, visual design alone plays a huge part in building trust and bonds between businesses and customers. Imagine encountering a site where designs are blown, and graphics feel outdated? Normally, questions on legitimacy, expertise, and service quality will arise. This is especially true for seeking travelers. When looking for travel companies or hotels, seeing a well-built site complete with pleasing graphics, responsive tools, and accommodating layout help establish and reinforce a business’ “trustworthy” reputation.

 

2. Motivate travelers with imagery

Ever saw a picture of the scenery and imagined what it must felt like to be actually there? Undeniably, the tourism industry lies in the technique of selling fantasies and feeding upon people’s dreams and expectations. Coming from this, it’s no surprise that travel businesses are maximizing visual content and other inspiration-related elements to nurture those desires in people and encourage them to turn those imaginations into reality. Through good web design, businesses can heighten the dreams and fantasies of their visitors using powerful photos, videos, written text, and other tools and convert those audiences into clients.

 

3. Offers a wider storytelling strategy

Gone were the days were people simply want to enjoy striking views in a dreamy destination. To date, more than having a remarkable visual experience, travelers aim for immersive and engaging travels that will let them get a taste of local life and culture. Fortunately, by investing in good web design, travel agencies and hotels can provide a pre-trip experience to their visitors that will already demonstrate local touches. From incorporating the right color scheme, fonts, graphics, to videos, and animations, travel businesses can now establish a kind of vibe that will transform their websites to digitalized cultural hubs that demonstrate powerful local imagery and culture.

 

 What Do We Mean by “Good Web Design”?

While web designs differ depending on the needs of the consumers in a particular industry, sites that demonstrate good and effective design share tons of common features. These include:

• Aesthetically-pleasing

Perhaps, this comes as the most visible feature that demonstrates a good website. From high-quality images, professional video contents, an appropriate color scheme that matches the business’ desired vibe, to simple yet pleasing layout, there comes a lengthy list of factors that help create an overall aesthetically-pleasing website.

 

• Optimal Usability

As mentioned earlier, good website design isn’t just limited to a site’s visual appeal. Instead, it also covers concerns on functionality. For businesses engaging in the travel sector, offering speedy, reliable, and secure services come as a necessity. Since travelers tend to move in urgency, waiting doesn’t come as an option. Coming from this, securing that your site offers optimal usability will help make your business keep up with the demands of its potential customers.

 

• Informative and Direct

As the saying goes, “there’s a purpose for every click.” Surely, there’s a driving reason why visitors check out your site. By keeping your page informative and direct, you can inspire your audience to stay in your page and achieve their original purpose. From setting up call-to-actions, online sign-up services, to many more, there comes a ton of ways on how you can make your site a one-stop place where visitors can inquire, explore, and avail your services without the need to consult other sources that may even drive them to another business.

 

• Organic Unity

For online searchers, nothing could be more frustrating other than arriving at a site where things appear to be in disorder and graphics do not correspond with the information provided in the page. From images, videos, colors, to written text, ensuring that all elements in your site support one another comes as a key in establishing a useful, relevant, and pleasing website.

 

• Mobile-friendliness

Let’s face it: Most online searches are now being done on mobile devices. Sure, while numbers of people using desktops remain impressive, the undeniable popularity of mobile devices makes it impossible for anyone to see a person without a smartphone. Given this reality, ensuring that your site will be able to accommodate any consumer from different browsers and platforms comes as a necessity.

 

The Bottom Line

From locking favorable first impressions, building trust, to converting visitors to customers, there comes a ton of perks that come with good web design. If you’re a newbie in the sector or a long-time businessman wanting to boost your brand identity and online presence, investing in good web design comes as an undeniable obligation in the tourism industry.

Want to learn more? Get in touch with the best web designers today!