Merseyrail invites Mando on board to launch new digital tourism platform Destination Mersyside

The fully responsive platform allows passengers to search local events and destinations, download maps and guides as well as plan their train journeys. It allows users to create an itinerary, or personal day planner, which can be downloaded or shared with friends and family via social media or email. Categories for selection include ‘Free Days Out’, ‘Rainy Day Inspiration’ and ‘Foodie Heaven’ depending on users’ interests.

David O'Leary, Merseyrail’s commercial director, said: “Destination Merseyside was created to provide an online showcase of fantastic destinations and events around the Merseyrail network, enabling our passengers to see quickly what the city region has to offer from a leisure perspective.

“Previously, the leisure travel section on the Merseyrail website was quite basic, so we were keen to improve it and include extra features, such as the personal day planners to improve the passenger experience. Merseyrail is the first train operating company to build an interactive digital tourism platform of this type and the initial user figures suggest it is going to be very popular.”

Merseyrail selected Mando, which also created its main corporate website, following a competitive pitch earlier this year.

Steven Swann, creative director at Mando, said: “This is a great example of an innovative solution that has been formed out of our long-term partnership with Merseyrail. We wanted the site to be very visual, with simple UX, as showing the venues and emotive imagery would then help sell the various events and activities that are going on over the year.”

One of the aims of the project is to target a younger market following a recent survey revealing that 48 per cent of Merseyrail passengers are under the age of 34 with 28 per cent aged between 16-25.