The Beauty of a Website (Part Two)

Fortunately the office was open, so I decided to go in and ask where the festival was being held. I came back to the car with a long face, “It’s been cancelled!” were my first words as I got back into the car. Then I told Gary that the tourism girl had told me that we weren’t the only ones looking for the festival. Approximately 50 other people had made the same enquiry. That meant that over 50 people had driven to town and had left very disappointed. They were upset not only with the festival organizers, but with the town in general. How many of these people would think twice about coming back to that town to attend a festival, any festival. How many other people did they tell their missing festival story to? It’s like a rippling effect! Everyone involved, organizers and town officials alike were tarred with the same brush. No-one looked good. The solution was very simple update or delete the website. If the organizers wouldn’t or didn’t make the change, the town or its tourism department should have. The tourism department should be aware of all festival and events happening in their town and know who to contact when problems arise. If this had happened in this case, a simple website update, 50 plus people would not have traveled 100’s of unnecessary kilometers. Updating your festival’s website is not only “good business”, it is a common sense courtesy to your customers and patrons. Make sure you give your webmaster the information he/she needs to update the site and then make sure the webmaster makes the changes immediately! There are no excuses for an out-of-date festival website.