VISITWallonia lays the first stone of a new B2C platform
Wallonia’s tourist assets deserve an online platform that is as inspiring as the region itself. With that ambition, VISITWallonia launched a large-scale digital transformation: one central ecosystem that brings together all websites, content and data sources. Following a public tender, we were commissioned to develop the entire B2C platform, from technical architecture to implementation.
Modern, secure & scalable
The challenge? Turning a fragmented landscape of older Drupal 7 websites and disparate systems into one modern, secure and scalable digital platform. The goal: more ease of use for the internal teams, a pleasant user experience for visitors and a solid foundation that can effortlessly grow with the organisation in the years ahead.
That is why we started with a thorough analysis and roadmap, followed by building a technical structure in Drupal, including all the necessary APIs, webhooks and integrations. The focus was not only on design and content, but also on performance, connectivity and stability.
The invisible engine of what is to become the digital heart of Wallonia.
First release: Presse
The first concrete step in the project was the launch of the brand-new Presse website, a site that did not exist before. This press platform centralises all information and press kits for journalists and is linked to VISITWallonia’s DAM system. Digital files such as photos, videos, documents and presentations are stored, managed and automatically updated there in one central place.
The site serves as a technical pilot project and a blueprint for the rest of the B2C ecosystem. In terms of build, structure and accessibility (the site is WCAG 2.2 AA compliant and therefore accessible to everyone, including people with visual, auditory, motor or cognitive impairments), it forms the foundation on which we will build the other future websites.
Robust architecture
That foundation is already exceptionally robust today. To guarantee maximum performance and uptime, we built the hosting environment on a master/slave architecture: if the master server ever fails, the slave or duplicate server automatically takes over. This keeps the platform stable, even with high traffic or technical failures.
The system is already integrated with EPhoto, Cirkwi and DeepL, among others. Many more connections are planned, including Loopi, PASS, Qualifio, AI tools, Meteo and many others, which will be rolled out in the next phases of the project.
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