Australia.com named best tourism site

Peter Dinham
Tuesday, 09 June 2009 14:23

Your IT - Home IT

Many of the critiques and previews of the movie Australia - starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, and hailed as a great tourism ‘showcase’ of downunder -  were less than complimentary, but not so Tourism Australia’s website – Australia.com – which has just been voted by the global web community as the world’s best tourism website in the Webby People’s Voice Awards.

The website, www.australia.com, won the award – hailed as the “Internet’s highest honour” by The New York Times – after more than 500,000 votes were cast by people around the world for their favourite sites, videos, and ads.

The site was built for Tourism Australia by professional services firm Deloitte’s online practice, and the winner received their awards at a Webby Gala in New York City yesterday.

Deloitte partner, Jenny Wilson, who led the Australia.com project team, said that for anyone planning a holiday the web is usually their first port of call, and that the Australia.com website is Tourism Australia’s “primary call to action for its global marketing activities, so it is an extremely important marketing channel for reaching consumers and getting them closer to holidaying in Australia.”

 “We felt very privileged to have the opportunity to build the website primarily responsible for sharing all that Australia has to offer for potential visitors. The fact that the people chose Australia.com as the best tourism website is a real honour and we are all very proud to have helped Tourism Australia create such an outstanding website.”

The Webby Awards is presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 650-person judging academy whose members include Internet co-inventor Vint Cerf, R/GA’s chief Bob Greenberg, “Simpson’s” creator Matt Groening, Arianna Huffington and Harvey Weinstein.

David-Michel Davies, executive director of the Webby Awards, says the Webby’s honour the “very best of the Internet," and, he added, “Tourism Australia’s website win is a testament to the skill, ingenuity, and vision of its creators."

Davies said the Webby Awards, in their 13th year this year, received nearly 10,000 entries from more than 60 countries.