Visit York is pitted against the might Trip Advisor in a battle to be named best tourism website.
Its visityork.org site has made it to the shortlist of the Travolution Awards. In the category Best Travel Information Website will be competing head to head for the title with TripAdvisor.co.uk, Mydestination.com, Arrivalguides.com and WorldTravelGuide.net.
The awards, now in their seventh year, received 240 individual entries in 24 categories, covering digital marketing, trade, consumer-facing and supplier websites and technology providers.
The winning title will go to the site that has had the greatest impact in its market. Judges will be looking at originality of design, increased traffic, overall user experience and levels of innovation against the wider web community.
The winning company will be announced on October 17 at the Art Deco Troxy hotel in London.
One year ago Visit York launched its ambitious plan to provide the most engaging, informative and commercially successful website of any British city, combining clarity with originality, functionality and interactivity.
Since its re-launch, visityork.org attracts two million visits per year and 1.7 million unique users. Visits to the website are up by 30 per cent, business tourism enquiries are up by 35 per cent and enquiries for group bookings are up by 57 per cent.
“Our aim has been to push the boundaries of how we promote our city digitally. Now all of our work is paying dividends,” said Visit York chief executive Gillian Cruddas.
“It’s fantastic for York that we’re a finalist in these online awards, competing with the world’s largest travel review site TripAdvisor. It’s an achievement we’re very proud of.’
The new design of Visit York’s website was a collaboration between its in-house team and Wakefield web designers Our Agency.
Mike Brown, special projects manager for Visit York, said: “Digital marketing techniques are constantly evolving and our new website has broken many of the rules about how destinations promote themselves.
“We’ve introduced dozens of new features, including content sharing with Visit England and strong slideshow imagery to bring our city to life.
“We are keeping our fingers crossed for a win!’