Which tourism authority has the best designed website?
29. Oct, 2009
7 Comments
For purposes of this face-off, focus is based on the homepage, as that is what a visitor gets to see first without clicking any link. This means if a website has an introduction page, before the main page…then that page is what a visitor gets to see first and counts as a homepage.
An introduction page can serve as an effective marketing tool if properly designed as a landing page with clear objectives in mind. A blank introduction page serves no purpose but drives away browsers as it is a waste of time.
Each tourism authority is mandated to sell tourism from that province. A website is a good communication platform that could be best used for that purpose. This could be done by:
1. Showcasing tourism attractions found in that province.
2. Using social media to profile attractions such as flickr for photographs, youtube for video clips, facebook to target a wider reach and twitter to spread the message. These facilities can be easily integrated on any website.
3. Communication or marketing department could manage a blog where all news, announcements and promotions would be published.
4. Getting browsers to subscribe to a mailing list, could retain a community of browsers who in turn would be sold all the tourism attractions being marketing in that province.
Below are all the nine provincial tourism authorities and screen shots of each homepage, you be the judge and declare the winner by casting your vote at the end…
Gauteng Tourism Authority – www.gauteng.net
Cape Town Routes Unlimited – www.tourismcapetown.co.za
Eastern Cape Tourism Board – www.ectourism.co.za
Mpumalanga Tourism & Parks Agency – www.mpumalanga.com
Limpopo Tourism & Parks – www.golimpopo.com
Free State Tourism Authority – www.freestatetourism.org.za
Tourism North West – www.tourismnorthwest.co.za
Northern Cape Tourism – www.northerncape.org.za
KwaZulu-Natal Tourism – www.zulu.org.za
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Next week, the spotlight falls on SADC country destination marketing organisations, that is SA Tourism, Swaziland Tourism etc.
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My name is Muzi Mohale a full-time travel blogger, your host at Travelwires.com responsible for all editorial on this blog. I blog about the travel and tourism industry in Africa. Apart from blogging about tourism, I also run 
Oh the choices! They are all pretty good aren’t they….my personal preference is the Tourism Cape Town site….Vote cast!
The website of the Free State might not be the most stylish one, but its simplicity and focus on the main points prevents it from being cluttered, as most of the other websites presented. Would have been nice if the map on the home page would be interactive.
hmmm.. I’ve always been such a fan of tourimcapetown.co.za, but in my opinion nothing can touch the interactivity of http://www.capetown.travel/ – (even though not listed as a provincial site on this post).
My vote however, went to Eastern Cape, I have never been on their site and I must say I really liked the feel of it. I feel its sells EC as a destination.
Ooh wait I actually have another poll. Which provincial tourism association do you think has the best BRANDING / CORPORATE IDENTITY? I would like to get hear your Vote Muzi.
Great Peter, I’ll take you on that one and will do a blog post about it soon.
@Peter. I was just about to mention that the work we are doing on http://www.capetown.travel outshines some tof the Provincial sites IMHO. I’m also looking forward to a poll regarding City websites.