SVG launches new tourism website

The Ministry of Tourism’s “bright and vibrant” new website got the full approval of guests who witnessed its launch earlier this week.

The site, www.discoversvg.com, which replaced www.svgtourism.com, was officially launched on Monday, at the training room of the National Insurance Services at Upper Bay Street, Kingstown.

Equipped with modern technological amenities, including FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube and Google accounts, the site also allows visitors wishing to travel to any of the many attractions showcased on the site to book accommodations online.

The Ministry of Tourism and SVG Tourism Authority managed site was funded by the European Union to the tune of €150 as part of the Special Framework Assistance (SFA) 2006 Tourism and Private Sector Development Project, which got started three years ago.

It was designed by the Dominica-based web company, Delphis Limited.

Consultant and project web designer Steve McCabe, along with partner Wendy Walsh of Delphis Limited, gave a live demonstration of the site, to the “oohs”, “ahhs” and “wows” of the audience, which included various stakeholders in the tourism sector, as well as employees of the various tourism bodies and the media.

President of the SVG Hotel and Tourism Association, Bianca Porter, said at the launch that the new site captures and showcases key information about the country’s niche markets through its photographs and up-to-date information.

She applauded the initiative that allows on-line booking and said she hoped more business would be generated through this facility. Porter also expressed confidence that the improved site would generate more interest in St. Vincent, resulting in more visitors to the country.

Also speaking at the launch was Minister of Tourism Glen Beache, who indicated that the site, along with other initiatives, would make St. Vincent and the Grenadines a tourism force to be reckoned with.

He added that a tourism website required special attention, and praised Delphis Ltd for the detailed work done. He noted that the website would help to better market the product being offered by St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which he described as the most complete package in the region.

The completed website project is just one of four components under the SFA 2006 umbrella, the others being a 2020 master plan for the tourism sector, the establishment of a hospitality and marine institute and the construction of a boardwalk at Villa.

WordPress blog basics

Some good WordPress tips & tweaks:

http://lifehacker.com/5365600/the-beginners-guide-to-tricking-out-your-wordpress-blog

Web Analytics primer

If you're looking for a simple primer to web analytics, especially Google's, look no further than the acclaimed Occam's Razor blog and in particular this post that distils analytics down to the 5 basic tenets:

#1 Get the Basics Out of the Way.
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http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/12/web-analytics-demystified.html

Why Businesses Should Use Social Networking

"In a piece this year for the insider's technology blog, TechCrunch, entitled "Why Advertising Is Failing On The Internet", Eric Clemons, Professor of Operations and Information Management at the University of Pennsylvania, argued that the way that we're using the internet has shattered the whole concept of advertising. We need no encouragement to share our opinions online regarding products and services and offer them star ratings; as a result, we're much more likely to look for personal recommendations from other customers than wait for a gaudy advert to beckon us wildly in the direction of a company website or online store. He claims we don't trust online advertising, we don't need online advertising, but above all we don't want online advertising."

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Using your Facebook vanity URL

If you use Facebook you'll probably be aware that they recently allowed ther users to register a 'vanity URL' (username is their name for it). Bigwigs have always been able to boast of an URL such as facebook.com/u2 , but this feature has been opened-up to (almost) everyone else.

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10 Ways to energise your blog

Blogging is not dead.. but you might have neglected it for Facebook or Twitter. This article suggest 10 good ways to re-energise your blog! Don't forget, you can also automate your blog, Facebook and Twitter accounts.

A Better Surfing Experience

Surfing in Dominica, we tend to use all the default settings our ISP provides us. The problem is, their Domain Name Servers lag hours behind the rest of the world. So for a better surfing experience, use OpenDNS.org.

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