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 2.1 Meeting Traveler Needs
All travelers require basic information to make their journey to Northern Ontario easy to plan. As you consider the traveler-friendliness of your web site, put on your own traveler hat and consider what you would expect (or hope) to find on a web site for any travel experience you might plan.
By making it easy for your guest to find the appropriate and necessary information quickly and easily you reduce your administration costs while reducing the frustration level of the person visiting your web site.
As always, keep in mind the needs of your target markets when determining which content is most important to your guests. Also, there are a number of resources that are available to help make your job an easy one. Provide external hyperlinks to web resources which will provide your guests with the information that will enhance their travel planning experience and they'll be sure to bookmark your site.
Recent queries with travel industry experts have identified the following components as being important or very important in planning travel:
Regional Travel Information:
- What sort of things are there to do in the area? Provide links to area attractions, trails.
- climate information
- travel essentials - what travelers need to know when visiting your destination (bug season, how to dress)
- Links to related sites, regional sites
- weather report/forecast (so they can plan how to pack)
- activities, attractions, events, festivals
- provide the current local time and date
General Traveler Info:
- map and travel directions
- public transportation info
- rental car contact info
- directions from the airport
- currency converter for the markets that you are in.
- links to national / provincial travel associations
- What to bring
- International Travel information
You don't have to provide all the answers, look for available tools and link to them - Ontario Tourism Travel Tips
 Providing Answers to Frequently Asked Questions: (some questions for starters)
- Provide background (culture/history) of your organization
- List of itineraries, packages,
- What is your availability?
- What are your rates - do you have any special rates (youth/seniors)?
- Do you have any last minute specials?
- How do I make a reservation? Do you provide secure online payment capacity - paypal, e-cheques, email, secure credit card payment.
- What are your policies? cancellation, late arrival, Do you
 provide travel insurance? See: Canadian Wilderness Trips
- What is your privacy policy, how you will use guest information ?
- How do I contact you? phone, fax, mailing address
- Do you have any employment opportunities?
- What sort of telecommunications availability do you have?: high speed internet / no phone...
- Do you have the ability to send postcards, e-greetings
- What are your facilities like? Provide virtual facility tour with pictures, descriptions
- Meet the Staff pages: interests, expertise, responsibilities
- How do I request a brochure (put something in their hands)
- Do you provide for special needs: vegetarian, non-smoking/smoking
- Can you provide packages, or provide access to travel agent who can help plan travel, restaurants, tours.
- What conference facilities do you have?
- Provide a search capacity so I can look for answers to other questions on your site.
- Do you provide gift certificates?
- Do you have a map of your facility or a virtual tour?
Online Reservations
Many web users are very comfortable making online reservations. Do it yourself or use the services of other organizations to provide online reservation services.
- Glenview Cottages Reservation Page
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Be careful with web site use of multimedia.... always indicate the size of the file. Don't assume everyone has high speed internet.