The DMO Website Reimagined

In an era of digital transformation, the Visit Norway website holds immense significance in shaping the country's tourism landscape.

In an era of digital transformation, the Visit Norway website holds immense significance in shaping the country's tourism landscape. It serves as a crucial tool for inspiring travellers, aiding in their planning process and promoting Norway as an attractive destination.

In an era of digital transformation, the Visit Norway website holds immense significance in shaping the country's tourism landscape. It serves as a crucial tool for inspiring travellers, aiding in their planning process and promoting Norway as an attractive destination.

Visit Norway has consistently set the benchmark for DMOs worldwide, excelling in various aspects of digital marketing, from content creation to strategic planning. Its unwavering commitment to innovation and excellence has earned it recognition as a leading figure in the industry. As a testament to this, Visit Norway's innovative project of reimagining the DMO website was awarded the winner of the Transformation Award from the DTTT at the 2023 X. Awards.


In an era of digital transformation, the Visit Norway website holds immense significance in shaping the country's tourism landscape. It serves as a crucial tool for inspiring travellers, aiding in their planning process and promoting Norway as an attractive destination. Amidst the rapidly evolving digital landscape, it's paramount for Visitnorway.com to uphold its reputation as an authentic, reliable, updated and helpful travel resource, especially when accessed on the most popular device of choice: mobile phones.


Headless CMS


Since its last overhaul in 2015, Visitnorway.com had become outdated, primarily catering to desktop users. With 70-80% of website traffic now originating from mobile devices, the need for a mobile-first approach became an urgent priority. The revamped website, launched on August 28, 2023, addressed these challenges by placing a strong emphasis on mobile accessibility, alongside innovative and robust technical solutions.




The redesign encompassed a holistic approach, enhancing the content, visuals and technical aspects of Visitnorway.com. The mobile-first design prioritised a dynamic and immersive user interface, ensuring a seamless and engaging experience for mobile users. Powered by a headless CMS, the new website is a smooth and engaging experience for visitors. This success story holds valuable lessons for other DMOs; prioritising user-friendliness and investing in enhanced experiences can significantly boost website engagement.

Another example of a DMO who's transformed their websites with a headless CMS, creating exciting journeys for their visitors:

  • Ticino Turismo - Rebranded their website for the first time in 36 years, completing a full transformation with a new headless CMS and going through a long build-up process using design thinking to reconsider what rebranding was.


Modernising Enriching Content


Stepping beyond a conventional travel guide, Visitnorway.com now offers detailed and customised content for avid travellers. Over 800 unique editorial articles, translated into nine languages, significantly expanded the website's digital and searchable footprint. Despite budget constraints, this strategy effectively extended organic reach and influence, attracting higher-quality traffic to the website. Users spent more time on the website and read articles for longer periods, demonstrating the effectiveness of the strategy in enhancing user engagement.



A key component of the redesign involved modernising the technology stack. By developing and implementing an extensive component library and adopting a cutting-edge 'headless' CMS, Visitnorway.com enhanced developer experience and user performance. This approach empowered the team to pioneer innovations in front-end development.


Scrollytelling for Engagement


A new phrase being popularised by VisitNorway is 'Scrollytelling', the idea behind this is a visual storytelling technique to display content in more immersive and visually appealing ways to engage users by creating hybrid articles which use a combination of scroll and regular articles. The articles featured in this format captivate readers for longer periods compared to standard articles, captivating attention with their powerful visual appeal. These are always combined with planning tools to enhance the booking usability of planning. User engagement and satisfaction have seen an uptake as a result.


Measuring Success


The overarching goal of the redesign remains firmly in sight: to inspire travellers to visit Norway, extend their stays, delve deeper into regional experiences and embrace responsible and sustainable travel practices.


The results of the redesign are evident in the improved user experience. Faster page views and a more inspiring and useful website have garnered positive feedback from visitors. In the two months following the launch in September-October, traffic to the website increased by 19% compared to the previous year, with an astounding 92% of this traffic being organic. The scrollytelling format has maintained consistent user engagement with the articles featured in this format captivating readers for longer periods compared to standard articles.


The redesign of Visitnorway.com has propelled the website into the future, positioning it as a dynamic and engaging resource for travellers exploring Norway. By embracing a mobile-first approach, enhancing content and modernising the technology stack, Visitnorway.com has successfully transformed into a leading destination for inspiration, planning and responsible travel experiences. As the tourism landscape continues to evolve, Visitnorway.com stands poised to remain at the forefront of digital engagement, promoting Norway as a captivating and sustainable travel destination.


What can be learned by other DMOs?


Visit Norway's website redesign offers valuable insights and actionable strategies that can be replicated by DMOs of all sizes to enhance their digital presence, improve engagement, boost organic traffic and elevate their overall website design. These are our recommendations on what DMOs can do to make these improvements.

Key Takeaways

  1. Prioritise Mobile-First Design - As seen by Norway's figures for mobile use, it's important to focus on how to enhance the user's experience most effectively. Prioritise responsive design, streamlined navigation and captivating visuals to enhance the user experience.
  2. Embrace Scrollytelling - By incorporating scrollytelling into content, DMOs can create immersive and interactive stories that captivate readers, keep them engaged for longer periods and make planning more enjoyable and interactive.
  3. Modernise Tech Infrastructure - As Visit Norway did with developing a  headless CMS, other DMOs with outdated websites should redesign their tech infrastructure, giving more flexibility and adaptability in designing and developing user-friendly and engaging digital experiences.
  4. Create Enriched Content - Beyond providing basic travel information, DMOs should strive to create a rich and engaging content experience that resonates with the diverse interests and aspirations of travellers. This involves expanding content offerings beyond traditional travel guides to include in-depth articles, travelogues and interactive experiences.
Published on:
December 2023
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