The Greater Lansing Convention & Visitors Bureau has a new, state-of-the-art Web site it hopes will attract more people to the Lansing area.

The site, www.lansing.org, includes interactive features like an online itinerary planner, which is the first of its kind among convention and visitors bureaus in Michigan.

Tracy Padot, the bureau’s communication manager, said the site had 505,000 hits from 13,900 visitors last month. Padot is optimistic other cities will follow Lansing’s lead.

“We hope they (do),” Padot said. “We like to think of ourselves as trendsetters in this area.

“We’re hoping to drive a lot of traffic into town. We’re trying to attract lots of families during the summer months.”

Besides the online itinerary, the site offers other interactive features Padot thinks will assist users.

A calendar of events with a reminder option is one such feature. When users want to be reminded of an event they would like to see, they can select a date in which they will receive an e-mail letting them know the details of their chosen event.

Padot said the site is particularly helpful for event planners and organizers because they can view hotel schematics and amenities. In addition, planners’ proposal requests can be submitted through the Web site.

Padot said the bureau’s old Web site needed to be redesigned and updated to “keep things fresh.” The bureau and Lansing-based Control Room Technologies designed the site, which also has new sound and animation features.

“We can’t find one site like it and we looked at some major market sites,” said Todd Ross, Control Room’s senior sales executive. “(The bureau) did a great job of marketing it. There was a sense of continuity with everyone involved and that helped form a seamless transition, from the salespeople to the creative side down to the programmers.

“You need very good marketing because it’s not like ‘Field of Dreams,’ where if you build it, they will come.”

Eric Enright, assistant editor of Meetings And Conventions magazine, said the better sites somewhat follow a pattern, being “frequently asked questions-oriented” and having lots of hotel and restaurant information.

“The more information you have in a site, the more business that comes to that area,” he said. “The site will definitely help with bringing in business.”