New Website Provides Inspiration and Utility for Monterey County Visitors at SeeMonterey.com

14/03/2016 14:08

MONTEREY, Calif., March 14, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A mobile-first platform featuring inspiring videos, images and interactive planning tools is the foundation of the new website unveiled this week by the Monterey County Convention & Visitors Bureau (MCCVB). Designed to be more user-friendly and provide visitors with improved tools and resources to aid in trip planning, the new site will vastly improve the user-experience for over 1.6MM annual users as the premier resource for trip planning to Monterey County.

"An engaging online experience reaching visitors before, during and after their visit is designed to inspire experiences and create destination evangelists," said Tammy Blount, President & CEO of the MCCVB.

In addition to its visually appealing, long form design, the new site offers more opportunity for engagement including a personalized trip planner, Social Moments Channel, interactive map of the county, new wedding planning microsite and expanded photo and video collections. The new mobile-friendly SeeMonterey.com also features enriched creative and up-to-date content on new and renovated hotels, attractions and restaurants.

To make planning the "perfect" trip easy, a custom itinerary builder hosted by Utrip is the focal point on SeeMonterey's homepage. Once a traveler indicates their interests and budget, Utrip sorts through millions of combinations of popular pages, activities, and restaurant recommendations to deliver personalized itineraries -- in seconds. Travelers have the option of immediately booking lodging and sharing their itineraries with friends.

"Monterey County is a vast geographic region with an unmatched assortment of life-enriching experiences," said Rob O'Keefe, Chief Marketing Officer for MCCVB, adding "The new site is designed to ensure individual travelers can more specifically tailor their trip plans to their particular interests."

To promote user engagement, SeeMonterey.com guests are encouraged to connect, join conversations and share content that other users are posting about Monterey County on popular social channels. Social content tagged with #GrabYourMoment and/or #Monterey funnel into social feeds that are incorporated throughout SeeMonterey.com and on the dedicated Social Moments Channel.

A new interactive map is also featured on the homepage and showcases each region of Monterey County's 3,771 square miles of diverse regions—from the rugged coastline of Big Sur to the agriculture fields of the Salinas Valley. This tool offers an engaging platform for travelers to click on a region's interactive pin and connect to a landing page full of inspirational content, featured partners, events and offers.

The meeting planner microsite MeetInMonterey.com is also getting a new look and feel. MeetinMonterey.com has an enhanced tool kit section where meeting planners can easily access helpful resources including maps, marketing materials, and photo galleries. An improved search tool which filters available event venues based on the planner's specific needs rounds out important features to make planning any event in Monterey County easy.

To experience the new websites, go to SeeMonterey.com and MeetInMonterey.com.

ABOUT MONTEREY COUNTY CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU

The Monterey County Convention & Visitors Bureau (MCCVB) is the official destination marketing agency for the county and is charged with fostering the development and growth of the tourism economy in the region. The MCCVB is a partnership of the hospitality community and local governments that aims to drive business growth through compelling marketing and sales initiatives that maximize the benefits of tourism to guests, members and the community. Travel spending in Monterey County was more than $2.5 billion in 2014, representing a 4.4 percent increase from 2013, and per person/per day spending rose significantly to $324. More than 4.3 million visitors stayed overnight in 2014, generating more than $100 million in local tax receipts and supporting 23,850 jobs. The MCCVB is a 501(c)6 organization, visit SeeMonterey.com for more information.

MEDIA CONTACT
Alliah Sheta Monterey County CVB
831-657-6405 alliah@seemonterey.com