Well the 2008 tourist season on the Isle of Harris is somewhat different than previous seasons. Some accommodation providers are recording a bumper year while others are failing to get sufficient bookings. I have thought long and hard about the possible reasons for this disparity and while I feel the weather on the Isle of Harris can contribute greatly to fluctuations in visitor numbers I very much doubt that this is the root cause.
Having discussed this year’s tourism figures with a number of accommodation providers on the Isle of Harris I have noticed one factor which rings true with all accommodation on Harris – Harris accommodation which is advertised on the Internet has recieved more bookings this year than nearly all previous years. However accommodation which has it’s own site is performing far better than those that rely soley on a listing with the official tourism bodies. Strangely all of the folk I talked to were convinced that their site was not the reason for their success and, for a while this puzzled me, that is until I realised that an understanding of the behaviour of Inter net users is required to fully understand the importance of such sites.
I have been involved in the study of the Internet since it began with my main interest being the search engines I inevitably have to study visitor behaviour. When looking at the tourist industry I have noticed that most people behave just as they would when purchasing any other product via the Internet. Nobody likes to buy something sight unseen and this is especially so when we consider such things as self catering accommodation on the Isle of Harris. Most folk like to see as many pictures of accommodation before booking, furthermore they also like to get some idea of the quality. While reviews of accommodation are very important nothing is more important than a wide selection of photographs of the accommodation in question and, to some degree, the local area and immediate vicinity.
So, if you are planning to visit the Isle of Harris, or anywhere else in the Hebrides of Scotland, it is highly likely that you will go in search of a site dedicated to accommodation on the Isle of Harris. When you are faced with a selection of Harris bed and breakfast, Harris guest houses, Harris Hotel accommodation and Harris self catering you will, more than likely, opt to book the property which provides the most information.
A new organisation called “Enjoy Hebrides” is aiming to provide maximum information about accommodation in the Hebrides of Scotland with a strong focus on the Isle of Harris and the Isle of Lewis (including Stornoway accommodation). Running as a not-for-profit company Enjoy Hebrides invests every penny in building more sites and obtaining more photographs. Although it has not yet been officially launched there are already a number of thier sites appearing on the search engines and, so far, they prove informative and certainly provide useful photographs and other information.
You can visit the main Enjoy Hebrides site at www.enjoyhebrides.com
If you are an accommodation provider on the Isle of Harris (or anywhere else in the Hebrides) you can visit their support portal at www.enjoyhebrides.co.uk
Tags: Harris Accommodation
