Always Visit a City's Tourism Websites Before Major Travel Sites

Once you have decided where you want to go on vacation, what is the first website you visit? Chances are good you answered one of the major travel sites or travel planning sites. You could save money and time by visiting a city's tourism site first. Few travelers know how helpful these sites can be or how much money they could save by visiting them.

Most of the tourist cities in the U.S. have set up special websites to be a centralized location for almost everything you are going to need to know. You will find exclusive information and deals on these sites you will not find anywhere else due to special arrangement made between businesses and the visitor's bureau. You will also find links to other sites with information not contained on the tourism site.

Hotels

Instead of searching through the major travel sites for hotel deals, I check out the deals on the tourism site of whichever location I am going to. Often, local hotels save special deals to offer here. For a 2010 trip to Mackinac Island in Michigan, I found a secret code to use on a hotel's website for a special deal. This code saved me an extra $10 a night more than the best deal to be found on the major travel sites.

Coupons

Often, these tourism websites will have special arrangements with businesses in the area. I checked out the tourism site for Frankenmuth, MI before my family vacation there in 2011. I found a downloadable coupon book which ended up saving my family of three over $150 during our trip. I also received over $50 in free merchandise from local businesses.

Travel Guides

Many cities will have someone create a tourism guide for the city. These are often downloadable, but can also be mailed to you for free. My family will be heading to Traverse City, MI later this year and ordered their travel guide. A new guide comes out each season and is packed with over one hundred pages of information about everything to do in the city and the area.

Original Content

Some cities will pack their tourism websites with original content to help guide visitors during the planning phase. VisitLasVegas.com, for example, has articles specifically for travelers heading to Sin City for the first time and content about what to expect to find different if you have not been there in a few years. There are also special videos which can introduce you to almost every major destination in the area.

How to Find

Most major tourist destinations will have a link to their tourism sites listed on the official website of the city or state. If you are unable to find a link, search the site for the city's Chamber of Commerce. A call to this department should lead you to the website. Sometimes the tourism site is the same as the official website of the city. Of course, you can also use a search engine (like Yahoo!'s) to find city-specific tourism websites as well.