Cumbria Tourism Website Scoops National Award
Cumbria Tourism is celebrating after their visitor website Golakes won a prestigious Travolution Award for the design of its website.
The site designed by NVG and Absolute Media and managed in house by the Cumbria Tourism web team boasts 4.3 million users per year and scooped the award at a glitzy ceremony hosted by BBC Radio DJ Mark Radcliffe, at The Roundhouse, London, on Tuesday 11 October.
Entries for the award were assessed against a range of criteria including originality, interactivity, functionality, content, clarity and their compliance with Best Practice Accessibility guidelines.
The Travolution Awards is one of the industries highest accolades and are unique in recognising companies, brands and individuals who excel in the fields of online travel distribution, digital marketing and technology.
Golakes won through against stiff competition when all three entrants in the category had to take part in a ‘Dragons Den' style pitch in front of a judging panel (Click here to view) made up of Chris Roe from Virgin Holidays, Paul Simmons from EasyJet, Sarah Hanan from Cheapflights and Lee Hayhurst, editor of Travolution Magazine.
Golakes.co.uk features over 1,000 businesses from around the Lake District, Cumbria. The site is the first port of call for thousands of visitors who are planning their trip to The Lake District, Cumbria and seeks to inspire and encourage people to book their holiday in this beautiful part of the world.
Golakes is a great resource for travellers and showcases accommodation, attractions, shops and restaurants as well as vital information about enjoying the area safely. CT has also launched a mobile version www.golakes.mobi for smartphone users to help plan their holidays and to book accommodation.
Ben Tagg, MD of NVG, said, "NVG are proud to have won this award alongside Absolute Media. We would not have won this award if it was not contracted to us by Cumbria Tourism - so we would like to say thank you to Cumbria Tourism for giving us the chance to be the creative organisation that we are and create a website and multiplatform solution that is used by millions of visitors every year."
Ian Stephens, Managing Director of Cumbria Tourism said: ‘'Cumbria Tourism with their partners at NVG and Absolute Media are thrilled to bits at having won the Travolution Best Agency for Website Design Award. CT's web development team has worked tirelessly to ensure that what we offer the consumer is a first class destination website. We are very proud that the Golakes website is once again internationally acknowledged as an industry leader. We will continue to listen to visitors and businesses to ensure that Golakes continues to be the best in the business with the aim of continuing to deliver more and more bookings for tourism business in Cumbria.''
In the picture left to right with the award are Cumbria Tourism staff members with the Cumbria Tourism Chairman:
Sarah Jones, Web Sales & Marketing Assistant, Eric Robson, Cumbria Tourism Chairman and Jill Killen, Web Sales & Marketing Executive.
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Notes to Editors:
1: For further information please contact Cumbria Tourism Press Office on 01539 825002 or on pressoffice@cumbriatourism.org
2: Cumbria Tourism is the lead organisation for tourism in the county and is at the heart of the Cumbria Visitor Economy. It is also the largest membership organisation in Cumbria with more than 3,000 members. Over 40 million annual visitors to Cumbria contribute more than £2 billion to the local economy and support around 56,500 jobs. To find out more about the work of Cumbria Tourism, visit www.cumbriatourism.org
3: To book accommodation in Cumbria - the Lake District, visit www.golakes.co.uk
4. The 12th Annual Webby Awards nominated http://www.golakes.co.uk/ for the best Tourism Website in 2008. These prestigious awards saw 10,000 entries from over 60 countries and all 50 states.
5. Image of staff with award available from Tuesday 18th October. Please contact if required.
