How Discover Lancaster Reimagined Its Digital Storytelling with a New Tempest Website
A collaborative website redesign and Growth Marketing partnership helped Discover Lancaster celebrate its distinct identity — while earning lasting visibility across AI-powered search.
2.8M
Website Visitors
5.3M
Pageviews
660+
New AI Overview Citations
A Destination of Contrasts and Connections
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is many things at once. It’s a place where roadside produce stands and open farmland meet vibrant downtowns, family attractions, and some of the most advanced live theater tech in the country. Visitors come for the iconic experiences, like Amish culture, the Strasburg Rail Road, and Dutch Wonderland, but increasingly stay for what’s unexpected, from e-bike tours in Columbia to farm-to-table restaurants in Lititz.
To support the full spectrum of these experiences, Discover Lancaster partnered with Tempest to evolve its digital presence — not with a drastic departure, but with a refined, responsive redesign that could better reflect where the destination is today and where it’s headed. The site needed to be mobile-first (with more than 75% of traffic coming from mobile devices), ADA-conscious, and flexible enough to support evolving content needs, including trail badges, event promotion, and community storytelling.
Crafting a More Immersive Experience
Tempest’s creative team grounded the new design in Lancaster’s personality — craftsmanship, hospitality, and approachability. Illustrations inspired by Lancaster Central Market’s artisan labels brought local flavor and playfulness to the site’s visual identity. Rich textures, layered backgrounds, and a warm palette created an organic, handcrafted feel throughout. All typography and layout choices were made with accessibility in mind, balancing visual creativity with legibility and usability.
The website was rebuilt on the latest version of Craft CMS, with powerful enhancements that improved both functionality and user experience. A dynamic search experience now allows visitors to easily navigate local businesses and events, with filtering options by type and the ability to explore listings on an interactive map. The upgraded trip planner enables travelers to discover personalized content and recommendations based on their interests — from Amish countryside experiences to downtown entertainment.
Behind the scenes, a refined information architecture and content strategy, supported by ongoing Growth Marketing from Tempest, streamlines the discovery experience for every audience. Whether you’re a leisure traveler, meeting and event professional, or a local resident, the new site makes it easier to find what matters most through curated content paths and smarter page relationships.
Results That Last in a Changing Landscape
Since the relaunch in December 2024, discoverlancaster.com has welcomed over 2.8 million visitors, a 9% increase year-over-year. Pageviews rose to more than 5.3 million, and the site earned over 935,000 clicks from Google Search.
Most notably, Discover Lancaster has gained traction in the evolving landscape of AI-powered search. The website now ranks for more than 5,600 keywords that render an AI Overview in Google search — with over 660 (and growing) direct citations from those AI-generated results. These placements ensure that the DMO continues to be a trusted and visible source of information, even as the ways travelers explore and plan their trips continue to change.
Explore Our Solutions
At Tempest, we define growth as a broad, data-driven approach focused on ensuring visitors connect with your at every stage of the travel planning process.
The Tempest web development team are digital craftspeople building destination websites that set the benchmark for the industry.
