The City of Thunder Bay in northwestern Ontario is starting work on a brand new tourism website, and they're looking for the public's help.

A new survey has been launched on visitthunderbay.com, which asks residents and travellers why they use tourism websites.

For example, options include reading reviews, find places to eat or stay, learn about a community's history or culture, or book or pre-pay for accommodations or attractions.

The goal, city tourism manager Paul Pepe said, is to make sure the new site is as comprehensive and useful as possible for residents and travellers alike.

"We're long overdue for a refreshment of our tourism website," Pepe said. "And it is a very robust site — it's our number-one wayfinding tool for visitors."

"We want to get it right," he said. "We want to make sure that we have something that is really developed from a visitor-first perspective."

Aiming for a spring 2018 launch

One focus, Pepe said, will be to increase the tourism site's e-commerce capabilities, allowing people to book and pay for vacations directly on the site.

The survey will be available until October 4, and the new site is expected to launch in spring 2018.

In a media release, the city said the tourism site overhaul is part of a larger website renewal project that will also see a new site created for the city itself.