If you’re new here, or just visiting, there’s an app for that!
OAKHURST – Finally, there’s an easy way to access everything the Yosemite Sierra Visitors Bureau website has to offer on your cell phone or iPad.
The Visitors Bureau has just launched a new, mobile-friendly version of its website, www.YosemiteThisYear.com, to make it easier for visitors and locals alike to find which restaurants, lodging and other attractions are nearby, as well as to find special deals offered by local businesses.That should make everyone smile a little more in the coming months and years.
Rhonda Salisbury, the Visitors Bureau’s director of marketing who headed up the project, is excited for people to start trying it out.
“An increasing number of people are using the internet on cell phones or tablets. In fact, 40% of all travel-related web traffic is from some mobile device. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, people will look to someone else,” Salisbury said.
And the Yosemite Sierra Visitors Bureau doesn’t want that to happen.
Entering the Visitors Bureau’s website into your phone or tablet’s browser will take you right to the new mobile-friendly site, which has most of the information contained on the regular site, “but in a format that works with mobile devices,” Salisbury said.
She praised the staff at Mobi-Manage, in Scottsdale, Ariz., for doing “a phenomenal job in getting this site up and running quickly. The amount of features that they are able to put on to this site is really impressive.”
One of her favorite features is an itinerary builder that lets visitors plan out their entire vacation on their mobile pads and phones, whether or not there’s a wi-fi connection in the area.
The Visitors Bureau will soon have a mobile app for iPhones, iPads and Android devices, Salisbury said. The app will allow users access to all the information on the mobile site without needing a live connection.
“The app is being paid for with a grant from Yosemite National Park which is meant to help show people the many attractions in and around Yosemite other than the Valley, to help alleviate crowds to the Valley during the busiest times,” Salisbury said.
The Visitors Bureau’s website is www.YosemiteThisYear.com. To view the mobile site from a desktop, go to www.YosemiteThisYear.mobi.
