Squiz

Squiz helps create "Life enhancing tropical moments"

About Tourism Tropical North Queensland (TTNQ)

As a national and international tourism 'Hot Spot' Tropical North Queensland attracts over 2.4 million visitors per year. Luring sun loving travellers from all corners of the globe, TTNQ’s tourism numbers have been steadily increasing year on year – 2006 saw domestic visitors alone up by 26% to 1.575 million.

The tourism industry is an increasingly competitive sector where customer experience and image management is crucial at all stages of the decision making cycle. Therefore, TTNQ wanted to give its potential visitors; targeted information, greater control and a website that would inspire action with a comprehensive booking system.

Tourism Tropical North Queensland (TTNQ) is the official Regional Tourism Organisation for Tropical North Queensland region of Australia, which includes: Cairns, Cairns beaches and Palm Cove, Port Douglas, Daintree & Cape Tribulation, Cooktown, Cape York Peninsula, the Gulf Savannah, Kuranda and Cairns Highlands and Mission Beach. TTNQ is an industry funded incorporated private company limited by Guarantee.

The Challenge - Complete web site overhaul in 4 months!

TTNQ knew they needed to establish an official website capable of handling thousands of daily page views and delivering information in multiple languages. The website also needed a booking facility and the capability to instantly display large amounts of dynamic information, destination news, offers and deals.

In October 2006, just four months before the launch of the TTNQ/TQ marketing campaign, Squiz was briefed and subsequently won the tender for the re-launch their Web portal. The website needed a complete overhaul in preparation for effectively serving the expected hundreds of thousands of visitors worldwide.

TTNQ requirements included:

• Implementation of a world class enterprise-level Content Management System (CMS)
• A complete website re-design in keeping with the overall marketing and brand objectives
• Factoring in the accessibility and usability issues of a high traffic commercial website, without compromising on the design
• The ability to integrate with and pull dynamic information from external databases. In particular the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW)
• An e-commerce facility for both the ATDW and the V3 booking system. The V3 system accepts bookings for accommodation, tours and attractions
• Online membership facilities and compatibility with the Sugar Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
• Advanced premium modules including; Calendar, Bulk Mail, Search, Video Streaming etc.
• Configuration of a simple edit interface so non technical staff can easily manage the demands of a large content load

The Solution - MySource Matrix

After exhaustive market analysis, Squiz were chosen to deliver on all of TTNQ’s website requirements which ranged from full design services to customised development. Squiz deployed their highly acclaimed enterprise-class CMS, MySource Matrix, creating a one-stop digital portal for TTNQ.

There was also the TTNQ partnership with Townsville Enterprise Limited to consider and a second install of MySource Matrix is currently underway for their Corporate and Intranet websites.

Technical rollout included:

• Implementation of MySource Matrix CMS
• Re-architecture of the website
• Customised development around e-commerce and membership requirements
• Full creative design process
• Two installs of MySource Matrix
  • First install for TTNQ (Consumer, Corporate and Intranet)
  • Second install for Townsville Enterprise Limited (Corporate and Intranet)
• Statistics package
• Content migration
• Project management
• Support for setting up servers
• System Testing
• Training

Result - Change your Latitude

On March 8th 2007 TTNQ presented their new website at an exclusive trade launch function. The stunning design resonated well, capturing the essence of the brand vision through captivating imagery and beautiful graphics. Also impressive was the usability and ease of category navigation, with external data seamlessly appearing within TTNQ design templates. This was achieved by the use of MySource Matrix integration tools which delivered a web interface that empowers users to achieve their desired result quickly and easily.

There has been a steady increase in visitor numbers since the website was launched. However, more importantly, there has been a dramatic increase in visitor interaction. Visitors to www.tropicalaustralia.com.au stay five times longer than before! The result is a richer user experience, a deeper understanding of what’s on offer in the Tropical North, and greater commercial opportunity.