‘Virtual Welcome Center’ Provides Full Range of Service

Brunswick & the Golden Isles Visitors

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. October 14, 2008

OCTOBER 4, 2007. There's a new visitor information center on southbound I-95, between Georgia Exits 42 and 38. But it's not the usual bricks-and-mortar setup. It's a 'virtual welcome center' that offers information about local attractions, accommodations and services, hotel booking services, mapping and more.

The new service has been a big hit with visitors, according to Bill Tipton, executive director of the Brunswick-Golden Isles Convention & Visitors Bureau, which operates the I-95 welcome center.

"During it first full month of operation in August, the virtual welcome center provided information for more than 3,000 visitors," Tipton explained. "That's in addition to the nearly 1,000 people who request information at the counter inside the welcome center each day. We have been very pleased with the response this is getting."

The virtual welcome center is accessed via a touch-screen computer terminal installed in a specially designed outdoor kiosk at the center. Visitors search for information about attractions, hotels, restaurants and other services through an on-screen guide that looks similar to the Convention & Visitors Bureau's official web site, COMECOASTAWHILE.COM. Rather than navigating via a mouse or keypad, visitors move around through the guide by touching various buttons and other elements on the screen.

The virtual welcome center offers more than information, however. The software for the electronic guide includes an online travel reservation system that allows visitors to contact 55 local hotels and resorts, and make secure online room reservations with little more than a few touches to the screen.

The online reservation system, powered by Travelocity, offers full color hotel brochures and interactive mapping. Information is available in 12 languages, and the system can reserve hotel rooms using any of more than 160 currencies. The online system even has the ability to send an email message to a visitor's Blackberry^O or computer, confirming the reservation. In the future, visitors should be able to receive confirmation via email messages to their cell phones.

"We have been told that our virtual welcome center is the only one of its kind at any state or local welcome center," Tipton said. "Our visitors benefit by having 24-hour access to area information, in a familiar, easy to use format. They can see what activities are taking place in the area, instantly make reservations with local hotels, and receive immediate confirmation. All on their schedule, in their own language."

Additional kiosks will be considered for the CVB's other welcome centers, on US Hwy. 17 at the St. Simons Causeway in Brunswick, and at the St. Simons Island Welcome Center in The Casino. "There is potential for placing the kiosks at the other welcome centers," Tipton says. "It all will depend upon the amount of after-hours traffic each center receives."

The virtual welcome center was developed in partnership with ITI Marketing, a global destination marketing company based in Brunswick. With more than 25 years of experience in the travel industry, ITI Marketing is a leading online provider of information about worldwide destinations, attractions and activities.

The Brunswick-Golden Isles Convention and Visitors Bureau is the destination marketing organization for Brunswick, GA and four barrier islands: St. Simons Island, Sea Island, Little St. Simons Island and Jekyll Island. Through a variety of electronic and printed media, the CVB promotes and provides information about area accommodations, attractions and activities, to business and leisure travelers domestic and worldwide.

During fiscal year 2006-07, which ended June 30, The CVB processed more than 160, 090 requests for Visitors Guides, from people in 50 states and 51 countries.