Tourism Ireland’s DiscoverIreland.com has been named best tourist board website at the French hospitality industry’s Les Travel D’Or awards.
Some 40,000 internet users from around France took part in this year’s voting, as well as a panel of media and web experts. Tourism Ireland fought off competition in the category from Spanish, Australian and Mauritian tourist board sites.
France is Ireland’s fourth-largest tourist market, delivering almost 400,000 visitors each year. According to Tourism Ireland, maintaining visitor numbers from France has been challenging since the onset of the global recession. It said its strong online presence is vital for the recovery of this important market, given that recent research suggests that 83pc of French people plan their holidays online.
“We are very proud that DiscoverIreland.com has been singled out for this recognition,” said Severine Tharreau, Tourism Ireland France. “Given the huge part that the internet now plays in peoples’ research, planning and choice of holiday destination, it is essential that the site is as good as those of our competitors.
“This award acknowledges that the site is up there with the best and we are confident that it will continue to inform and inspire potential French visitors to choose Ireland, showcasing the superb tourism product on offer and the many things to see and do on a holiday here.
“Tourism Ireland has always strived to be at the cutting edge of e-marketing and we have strengthened our online presence this year. Tourism Ireland promotions this year are highlighting compelling reasons to visit and the great value available.”
Discoverireland.com features information mined from a database of about 30,000 tourism products around Ireland, including accommodation, festivals, attractions and events. Information is updated on a daily basis to ensure it is an extremely dynamic and comprehensive source of information for overseas tourists. According to Tourism Ireland, links on the site to social media sites, blogs, e-brochures and video pages are increasingly popular, demonstrating peoples’ increasing appetite for more interactive content.
The tourist board said its websites are designed to ensure that potential and repeat customers receive world-class information and can be easily directed to online and other purchasing opportunities for holidays, packages and access transport.
Article courtesy of Businessandleadership.com
