Exclusive: Council’s Tourism Website Gets Fewer Than 400 Visitors A Week

The website launched by Oldham Council in a bid to attract more visitors to our area is being used by fewer than 400 people each week, Saddleworth News can reveal. Figures released under Freedom of Information laws also show that the council spent more than £35,000 setting up Visit Oldham, and has set aside more than £10,000 to maintain it during the current municipal year.

According to the council, 7,098 people used the website during the 18 weeks between 17 February, when it went live, and 24 June. That works out at an average of 394 visitors per week. Over the same time period, Saddleworth News received 28,907 unique visitors, more than four times as many as Visit Oldham.

The site was a year in the making, and the council worked with Liverpool-based developer New Mind. During that time, the council says it spent approximately £35,600 on the site. That money went on staff costs, the fee paid to the developer, set-up costs such as web hosting, and February’s official launch event.

By means of comparison, Saddleworth Parish Council spent just £3,000 on creating its new website earlier this year. Saddleworth News cost just over £100 to set up, which has been more than recouped through a little advertising, although I give up my time voluntarily to keep it updated.

The council also revealed that it has set aside £10,945 for the upkeep of Visit Oldham during the 2010/11 municipal year. The money is going on estimated staff costs and staff training, as well as web hosting fees.

When the site was launched in February, the council promised that it was still a “work in progress” and that more multimedia content, such as videos, would feature on the site in time. Videos are yet to appear, even though they are a feature of similar websites such as Visit Lancashire, which was the work of the same web developer.

Before formally responding to the Freedom of Information request from Saddleworth News, Oldham Council yesterday sent some of the data to local journalists in a press release. The press release didn’t mention the number of unique visitors Visit Oldham had received, nor the money spent on it. Instead, it focused on the total number of page views the site had received since its launch.

The council’s data shows that the 7,098 people who logged on to Visit Oldham between February and June viewed 54,425 individual pages on the website. According to the council’s statement, the figures mean the website “is proving to be a must-see destination in its own right.”

The council’s press release went on to defend the way in which the site is maintained: “The website is developing all the time and new additions include the new Gardening section which is already proving to be one of the most popular pages on the website only a month after being included. A new Pennine Bridleway page has also been developed.”

Cllr Kay Knox, who holds the Cabinet portfolio for Leisure, Culture, Heritage and Tourism Services, was quoted in the press release saying: “Visitoldham.com provides the council with a fantastic opportunity to promote all parts of the Borough as a place to come and visit. Residents can also log on to find out what is happening and what attractions are all around them. Popular searches have included information on the Saddleworth Folk Festival and the ‘Yanks are Back’ event.”

The council’s press release can be read here.

You can view the Visit Oldham site here.

Author: Jude Gidney - Editor

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