Destination web portal for Speyside launched

Tourist operators in Moray and Speyside are looking forward to a business boost following the launch of greaterspeyside.com, a portal web site to promote the area.

The site is designed to act as a springboard for Speyside, encouraging greater tourist trade by marketing the area’s attractions and fostering greater levels of sharing and collaboration between tourism providers. A major component of the site is its ability to share information by linking with databases and other websites in order to give site visitors as wide a view of Speyside as possible. With a stunning coast line, the highest concentration of single malt whisky distilleries in the UK, over 50 excellent golf courses, plenty of castles and historic sites, silence, an abundance of wildlife including dolphins, dark starry skies at night, friendly people, superb local produce and a host of events, there will be a lot to pack in.

Interaction also features heavily with the site. As well as a discussion forum, there is a Wiki section where members of the public and the tourism industry can contribute to a knowledge base about local things to do and see. The Wiki is arranged on a place by place basis, with each village and town in the area (from Aberlour to Turriff) given its own dedicated page. This is the Nethy Bridge page for example.

The Wiki, a Hawaiian word meaning quick, is a free online content tool to allow anyone to post and edit web page content on a collaborative manner. A number of the place names listed have yet to be edited, so contributions would be welcomed. Postings should be general information about an area and provide insights into the range of attractions, things to do and see.

Explains the web site, “The aim of this Wiki is to provide an objective knowledge base about everything interesting relating to the Greater Speyside area. We invite everyone to contribute to this. Please feel free to edit or add information that you think may interest locals or visitors to this beautiful area!”

Tourism businesses should, however, bear in mind that the Wiki is not somewhere to promote their business or activity, or for anyone to offer subjective opinions or reviews. There are other areas of the greaterspeyside.com site for these purposes.

According to greaterspeyside.com, “The ideal Wiki article is balanced, neutral and encyclopedic, containing notable, verifiable knowledge. In many cases this is achieved straight away, and sometimes this is a process and it can take a while longer, as each user adds their contribution in turn. Some articles contain statements and claims which have not yet been fully cited. Others will later have entire new sections added. Some information will be considered by later contributors to be insufficiently founded, and may be removed or expounded.”

Also planned are developments to enable member tourism businesses and agencies to display greaterspeyside.com content on their own web sites and a mobile phone-accessible version of  greaterspeyside.com.