A trip to Durham takes you back in time, to an era of towering cathedrals and 11th century castles, brimming with fascinating heritage, picturesque countrysides and market-lined streets. It’s a destination that offers hidden gems across villages and coastlines, and the time finally came for Visit County Durham to reveal that wonder and delight through their website presence.

With that in mind, Visit County Durham approached us with a brief to inspire the visitor through the use of dynamic content that could convert more browsers into visitors.

By partnering with Tourism Media (now Simpleview), the team was able to integrate social media and video content and convert and support the newly launched partnership scheme with a wide range of attractive promotional options to provide more opportunities for income generation.

The resulting website, This Is Durham, has a bold and impactful design which supports regular thematic content changes and appeals to the destination’s target audiences. With strategic auto-playing footage and inspirational imagery, the visitor is guided around themed sections and product categories, while sticky elements including social media, special offers, competition and e-newsletter sign-up features ensure that the site's key calls to action are prominent on every page.

The website was a clear success and continues to help the destination to create conversions. "The supported build of our new destination website saw the VCD in-house team work closely to develop a striking new website,” said Michelle Gorman, Managing Director at Visit County Durham. “This will allow us to release its commercial potential and be an even stronger tool for converting interest into visits."