Destination Portal gets Silver Awards of Distinction for Travel/Tourism, Copywriting, Visual Appeal and Home Page
Abu Dhabi, UAE. Thursday 23rdMay, 2013: VisitAbuDhabi.ae, Abu Dhabi's online destination resource, has receivedfour Silver Awards of Distinction in the 19th Annual Communicator Awards-the international competitionhonouringcommunications excellence - for the travel/tourism, copywriting, visualappeal and home page categories.
The accolades, awarded by a jury from theInternational Academy of Visual Arts and representing members frombluechip organisations such as Disney, MTV Networks, Yahoo, Sotheby's Institute of Art, Wired, Time Inc., and Estee Lauder, rankedvisitabudhabi.ae alongside top world portals such as: tripadvisor.com, nationalgeographic.com, miamiandbeaches.com,the State of Mississippi website (ms.gov) and State of Indiana website (in.gov).
"This is the second major coup for our destination portal in the space of one month," said Khalid Al Hadi, Executive Director, Marketing& Communications, Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi), which owns and operates visitabudhabi.ae."This is a clear indication that we are going in the right direction with our digital messaging which we will expand further in the months to come."
In April, visitabudhabi.ae was listed among top government portals by the 17th Annual Webby Awards, the yearly honours of The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences which recogniseexcellence on the Internet. It was the first Webby distinction to be awarded to an official destination portal in the Arab World. The Webby recognition named Abu Dhabi 'Official Honouree' in the 'Government' category alongside brands like NASA, New York and the City of London.
An upgraded version of visitabudhabi.ae launched just under a year ago with a visual, user-friendly look, a new information architecture highlighting what to see and do in the emirate, more than 200,000 words in eight languages - English, Arabic, French, German, Italian, Russian, Japanese, and Mandarin - and over 3,000 images.
"We are moving to add Portuguese to our language portfolio following feedback from the trade in Brazil which will open up to the Abu Dhabi market with the June launch of Etihad Airways flights from Sao Paolo to Abu Dhabi International," added Hadi.
Visitabudhabi's multilingual hotel search, aggregating live deals and room availability from over 50 booking engines, was complimented earlier this year by the launch of a multilingual flight and car search engine with real-time results, and a trip planner facility which allows travellers to build and share their virtual trips to Abu Dhabi. Reaching over three million visits a year, with a daily average of over 8,000 clicks, further planned visitor experience enhancements include mobile applications on all key platforms: iPhone, iPad, Android and Windows Phone.
Conceived with travellers' needs in mind, visitabudhabi.ae is a one-stop-shop for tourists who want to explore the emirate, giving them easy access to interactwith extensive, dynamic information on Abu Dhabi's attractions and experiences, culture and heritage, events and recreation activities. The destination's social media channels invite travellers to become active contributors to the destination, to post, comment, get inspired and share their experience.
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About Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority
Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority conserves and promotes the heritage and culture of Abu Dhabi emirate and leverages them in the development of a world-class, sustainable destination of distinction which enriches the lives of visitors and residents alike. The authority manages the emirate's tourism sector and markets the destination internationally through a wide range of activities aimed at attracting visitors and investment. Its policies, plans and programmes relate to the preservation of heritage and culture, including protecting archaeological and historical sites and to developing museums, including the Louvre Abu Dhabi, Zayed National Museum and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. The authority supports intellectual and artistic activities and cultural events to nurture a rich cultural environment and honour the emirate's heritage. A key authority role is to create synergy in the destination's development through close co-ordination with its wide-ranging stakeholder base.
Stay in touch with the latest information on Abu Dhabi at:
visitabudhabi.ae
facebook.com/visitabudhabi
twitter.com/visitabudhabi
gplus.to/visitabudhabi
youtube.com/visitabudhabi
pinterest.com/visitabudhabi
foursquare.com/visitabudhabi
For more information, please contact:
Saeed Al Tunaiji
Head of Media Relations
Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority
Tel: +971 2 4181 456
Email: stanaiji@tcaabudhabi.ae
Amena Abdulla Khoori
Marketing Communication Executive
Email: AKhoori@tcaabudhabi.ae
© Press Release 2013
