Montana Office of Tourism Launches New Mobile Site

In response to the rapid acquisition and use of smartphones by travelers, the Montana Office of Tourism has recently launched a new mobile site, http://visitmt.com. The site provides a resource of easy to navigate Montana travel tools for mobile users.

"The Montana Office of Tourism has done a great job reaching out to visitors and providing them with the information they need to plan a Montana vacation," said Dore Schwinden, Director of the Montana Department of Commerce. "By developing a mobile site, Montana continues to be responsive to the needs and expectations of our visitors."

The site is designed to provide travel planning information for travelers while they are on the go. Using a smartphone’s built in GPS system, the site can provide restaurant, lodging or attraction information within close proximity to the user. Among some of the other capabilities, users can search information by location, view maps and videos, obtain current weather conditions as well as link seamlessly to Montana’s social media sites such as Facebook http://www.facebook.com/visitmontana and Twitter http://www.twitter.com/visitmontana .

In developing the mobile site, the Office of Tourism worked with MMG Worldwide, a firm with extensive experience building mobile websites for tourism destinations and hospitality businesses. "We were able to benefit from the strategic experience that a company like MMG Worldwide brings to the table," says Anna Marie Moe, Acting Administrator for the Montana Office of Tourism. "Their collective knowledge of mobile usage assisted us in identifying which content from our existing http://www.visitmt.com website would be the most useful and relevant to a mobile user."

To experience the mobile site, users need to visit the site from a smartphone like a Droid, iPhone, Blackberry or Windows Phone, as the site senses the type of device in use. Subsequently, users visiting the Montana Office of Tourism’s site from a smartphone automatically go to the mobile site, while visitors coming from an iPad, laptop or desktop automatically go to the full site, http://www.visitmt.com.

Technology is rapidly advancing and Montana is actively working to enhance their digital offerings. Another way the Office of Tourism is expanding its digital reach is by incorporating a custom smartphone code (commonly referred to as a QR code) in its publications and other collateral in order to connect users directly to the most commonly accessed planning tool for travel to Montana, http://www.visitmt.com. Users scan the code with their mobile device to instantly access Montana travel information.

In addition, the Office of Tourism is planning on developing several apps within the next year in order to provide route and interpretive content such as scenic drives, interpretive walking tours, and Dinosaur Trail tours. Additionally, plans are in the works for an iPad/tablet-style quarterly magazine to be launched in the next 12 to 18 months.

Since its launch in early-March, the mobile site as seen over 5000 visits with April experiencing a 53% increase over March as more and more people become familiar with the site. The most visited sections of the site include: Places to Stay, Searching by Location and Things to Do.

Tourism and recreation is one of Montana’s largest industries and primary revenue drivers. Annually over 10.5 million people visit Montana spending $2.5 billion during their stay. Over 28,000 jobs are directly and indirectly supported by nonresident travel, resulting in over $785 million in total personal and proprietors’ income for Montana residents.