Tourismus Tirol.at is a website designed to help visitors plan their trips to Tirol by offering a detailed directory of accommodations, and facilitating booking requests.
Tirol attracts millions of tourists, including myself, each year, and optimising this platform presents a significant opportunity to enhance user experience.
A competitor recently relaunched its site with a focus on UI/UX improvements, and as a result, their turnover skyrocketed from €7.5M in 2019 to €65M in 2024. This highlights the immense potential for tourismus-tirol.at to improve its platform and better serve its users.
Through personal experience and initial user feedback, it became clear that users struggled to find suitable accommodation, never completed bookings and abandoned the site quickly.
The main challenge was identifying the pain points in the browsing and booking user journey that cause frustration, and proposing solutions that address these areas to better meet user needs.
Timeline: 2 weeks (2025)
I applied the design thinking process to explore how tourismus-tirol.at could better meet user needs and align with modern UX best practices.
My objectives were:
Conduct a heuristic evaluation and define key user jobs-to-be-done to frame the problem space.
Plan and execute guerrilla usability testing to identify usability issues and gather insights.
Synthesise findings into clear design opportunities supported by user needs and competito analysis.
Develop mid-fidelity wireframes and wireflows to prototype improved user flows and integrate user feedback.
I started with a heuristic analysis using Nielsen’s 10 Principles to identify high-level usability and design issues, and inform where deeper research was needed.
The audit revealed key usability issues including:
confusing navigation and information architecture
incomplete and poor-quality content
broken and unreliable features
lack of system feedback
This helped inform my research plan to delve deeper to understand what users are really trying to do on the site, and exactly what obstacles they face.
The target users are likely educated, tech-savvy adult travelers of all ages — often international and outdoorsy — with a moderate to high income who want to visit Tirol. Using the Jobs-to-Be-Done framework, I mapped user goals based on real-world needs:
When browsing accommodation in Tirol, I want to explore a wide range of options with ease, so I can discover places that match my needs and interests
When searching for specific types of stays, I want to filter and compare options effortlessly, so I can quickly narrow down the best fit
When I'm ready to book, I need a straightforward and reliable process, so I can confirm my stay with confidence and minimal hassle
When using the site on my mobile, I need a smooth user-friendly experience, so I can browse and book easily even on-the-go
I referred back to these during ideation to help focus my design decisions.
I ran 2 moderated in-person guerilla usability tests with target users. I gave them 3 tasks based on the user jobs - these are shown below. I followed-up each task with the SEQ and calculated the average time on task to gauge the site's efficiency and user-friendliness. I asked particpants to reflect on what felt intuitive or difficult, compare the desktop and mobile experiences and share any unmet expectations.
I began by looking at the quantitative data to spot obvious pain points, then used qualitative feedback to add context.
Task 1 was somewhat difficult, highlighting a confusing map tool, inconsistent information, unclear value proposition, poor information hierarchy, and overwhelming text blocks, all contributing to friction in the search flow and possible high bounce rates.
Task 2 was difficult and time-consuming, with issues like manual data tracking, a generic form, lack of feedback, unvalidated date inputs, and no confirmation after submission, leading to frustration and loss of trust.
Task 3 uncovered usability issues, including broken mobile layouts, inconsistent listings, duplicate entries, misleading filters, and disruptive ads, reducing trust and decision-making ease.
Referring back to the high-level usability issues from the heuristic analysis, I categorised and summarised these redesign opportunities which then guided my ideation:
Update homepage messaging and navigation to reflect value proposition clearly
Unify how users explore Tirol by streamlining area search tools
Ensure all areas are consistently named, visible and searchable
Use consistent visual patterns throughout the site
Ensure every listing includes comprehensive details (facilities, pricing, availability)
Make content digestible and avoid large text blocks
Optimise the mobile responsiveness
Eliminate dead-ends or empty listings and provide feedback with results don't exist
Enhance clarity, guidance and feedback in the booking form
After distilling these design opportunities from the usability test, I created low-fi sketches, then mid-fi wireframes of the core user flow from homepage → area overview → accommodation listing → booking. I ideated different ways to implement the improvements, and conducted a competitor analysis before finalising my solution for both desktop and mobile.
My proposal for optimising the Tourismus Tirol tackles key user pain points through clearer navigation, mobile-friendly layouts, and consistent, digestible content. It streamlines browsing and booking while providing helpful feedback. This aims to not only build trust and reduce user effort, but also reduce bounce, and boost satisfaction and turnover for Tourismus Tirol. This case study shows how a thoughtful user-centred approach can transform a product to better benefit both user and business.
Given more time, I would further develop the wireframes to conduct another round of usability testing with an interactive mid-fidelity prototype, to validate design changes and assess the functional experience as a whole - ensuring continuous optimisation. Despite this, this project has honed my skills in UX strategy formulation, ideation and problem-solving, and wireframing, while also refining my ability to prioritise business goals alongside user needs.