Caribbean Tourism announces web awards

The Caribbean Tourism Web Awards, run in conjunction with TravelMole, announced its winners at the 2011 Caribbean Marketplace Convention in Montego Bay.
 

Said Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association director general and chief executive officer Alec Sanguinetti:
 

“We are delighted to have such a global publication as TravelMole promote and organize the awards. To be online today is such an important aspect of running a tourism business and theses sites can be held up as examples of good practice.”
 

The sites were judged by a group of IT experts led by Frank Gorman of Lead Generators. He said:
 

“The nominations were numerous but we used some basic principles to narrow down the shortlisted group and eventual winners. Does the site make good use of both graphics and messaging to make it clear what they are offering? Do the graphic and text messaging focus on the marketing USPs of the business? Is the navigation obvious and make it clear what the visitor should do next in order to journey through the site as the site owner intends.”
 

Winners fought off stiff competition. They were (with judges comments):
 

—Hotels above 75 rooms: the W Retreat and Spa, Puerto Rico – “showed good examples of how video can be used to take the visitor on wonderful tour of the hotel.”
 

—Hotels below 20 rooms: The Hotel Marquis, Saint- Martin – “the purple coloring adds to the sense of boutique and unique.”
 

—Responsible Tourism: The Retreat at Lookout, Grand Cayman – “a down to earth and authentic feel to the web site."
 

—Operators and Agents: Cazenove and Loyd, UK – “The use of fonts and larger than life images combined with a chatty style creates something that is interesting and attractive.”
 

—Tourist Board: Aruba – “One immediately gets a sense that Aruba is all about the amazing people. The use of social media, specifically their own well populated chat forum, and also Facebook, etc is very well done.”
 

—Directories/Trade Support: Take Some Time Out – “The site looks different , young and fun.”
 

The event, sponsored by Jamaica Tourist Board, Montego Bay Airport, Lead Generators and AMG, will now become a regular feature of Caribbean Marketplace timetable.
 

TravelMole.com is the first online community for the Travel and Tourism Industry, established in 1998. Today TravelMole.com and TravelMole.TV publishes 15 eNewsletters and broadcasts hundreds of videos to over 550,000 travel & tourism industry professional registered members and subscribers, as well as 30 million consumers in 132 countries. For further information contact [email protected].
 

By David Wilkening