Creo Appointed to Deliver Brand Refresh and Website for Ayrshire and the Islands

Creo has been appointed to deliver a new Ayrshire tourism website design and brand refresh for Ayrshire and the Islands, formerly Ayrshire and Arran, following a competitive tender process.

The project will see our team lead on a full brand refresh, including a new logo and visual identity, alongside the design and development of a new B2B website built specifically for the international travel trade.

It is exactly the kind of project Creo is increasingly being commissioned to deliver: strategy, brand, UX, web and marketing, all brought together around a clear commercial objective.

Building Ayrshire’s Share of International Tourism

The ambition behind the project is significant.

At present, Ayrshire accounts for around 8.6% of international visitors, with a target to grow that figure to 12.6%.

The region already has the product.

Coastal landscapes, islands, food and drink, golf, heritage, accommodation, outdoor experiences and easy access from Glasgow all create a strong tourism proposition.

The challenge is making sure the right people know about it.

That means moving beyond simply marketing Ayrshire to individual tourists and instead getting in front of the international businesses that decide where groups travel.

An Ayrshire Tourism Website Design for the Travel Trade

The primary audience for the new website is not the consumer, rather, the travel trade.

That includes international tour operators, travel agencies, group organisers, tourism partners and the businesses responsible for planning and selling UK itineraries to customers around the world.

Companies such as Intrepid are a good example of the type of organisation the new platform needs to work for: businesses researching destinations, building itineraries and deciding which regions should feature within future tours.

The new site will become a front-facing trade portal for Ayrshire and the Islands, giving operators the practical information, inspiration and resources they need to confidently include the region within their programmes.

From Consumer-Led to Partner-Led

One of the biggest strategic shifts within the project is moving away from the current consumer-led website towards a much more focused B2B proposition.

There are already channels serving domestic visitors.

This platform has a different job.

It needs to help tour operators quickly understand:

• Why Ayrshire should be included within a Scottish itinerary
• What experiences are available for groups
• How different locations can be combined
• What sample itineraries could look like
• Which local businesses and tourism partners can support them
• Where to find practical information and trade resources

Itineraries, useful data, inspiration and downloadable resources will therefore play a major role in the new user experience.

The aim is to make the website genuinely useful to the people planning international travel, rather than simply creating another destination brochure online.

Competing for Attention Internationally

Ayrshire and the Islands is not competing in isolation.

Tour operators planning trips to Scotland have numerous regions, routes and experiences competing for space within an itinerary.

That makes first impressions extremely important.

Whether the organisation is meeting operators at a major trade event in London or being discovered online by a travel business in North America, Europe or Asia, the brand has to be memorable and the proposition has to be immediately clear.

The website needs to answer a simple but important question:

Why should I send my customers to Ayrshire?

That question is influencing everything from the information architecture and content strategy through to the visual identity itself.

Repositioning the Brand

The project also includes a complete refresh of the Ayrshire and the Islands brand, including the development of a new logo.

The identity needs to work much harder in a B2B environment.

It has to feel credible enough for international trade audiences while still capturing the character, energy and appeal of the region itself.

It also needs to perform across far more than a website.

Trade events, presentations, printed materials, digital campaigns, partner communications and wider destination marketing all require a visual system that is distinctive, consistent and easy to recognise.

This is not simply about modernising the logo.

It is about building a brand capable of supporting the organisation’s ambitions over the coming years.

Designing Around Real Users

A project like this has to start with understanding who will actually use the platform.

That means thinking beyond aesthetics and asking practical questions.

What does an overseas tour operator need before adding Ayrshire to an itinerary?

What information do they expect to find?

How quickly can they understand the geography of the region?

Can they easily discover suitable experiences for different groups?

Can they access the resources they need without having to contact someone first?

The answers to those questions are shaping the UX and structure of the new website from the outset.

At the same time, the platform needs to be straightforward for the internal team to update, allowing new itineraries, resources, partners and opportunities to be added as the travel trade strategy develops.

An Ayrshire Tourism Website Design With Global Ambition

For Creo, there is an obvious connection to the project.

We are an Ayrshire-based agency delivering the Ayrshire tourism website design and digital platform that will help present the region to the international travel industry.

But the significance of the project goes far beyond geography.

It reflects the type of strategic work our team is now delivering regularly: complex briefs involving multiple audiences, ambitious organisations and brands that need to perform across both digital and physical environments.

The fact that this particular project could directly influence how international visitors discover and experience Ayrshire makes it an especially exciting one to work on.

What Comes Next for the Ayrshire Tourism Website Design

Work is now progressing across the new brand identity, UX and website.

The goal of this Ayrshire tourism website design is to give Ayrshire and the Islands a stronger voice within the international travel trade, provide operators with genuinely useful tools, and make the region harder to overlook when future Scottish itineraries are being planned.

We will be sharing more of the process as the project develops.