Join us on Facebook (http://tinyurl.com/dyyuk4) and follow us on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/etourismawards).

Announcing the 2009 Canadian e-Tourism Awards:

Calling Travel Enthusiasts and Tourism Professionals World-Wide —

If You Use the Internet to Promote Travel to Canada, Enter the 2009 Canadian e-Tourism Awards

Niagara Falls, April 13, 2009 (during Online Revealed Canada): The Canadian e-Tourism Council, a national forum of Canadian travel marketing executives specializing in online communications, is pleased to announce the 2nd Canadian e-Tourism Awards, an innovative global awards program that recognizes individual travellers and tourism businesses for excellence in online communication supporting travel to Canada.

The Canadian e-Tourism Council, who is providing the judging panel for the awards, has a mandate to collaborate to leverage emerging media channels and web technologies in order to successfully promote Canada as a travel destination. Council members represent provincial marketing organizations, destination marketing organizations, hotels and resorts, airlines, rail companies, online travel agencies, tour companies, academics, tourism associations, spas, ski regions, parks, aboriginal tourism and media from around the country.

According to Jens Thraenhart, Founder and President of the Canadian e-Tourism Awards and Founder and Immediate Past Chair of the Canadian e-Tourism Council, “This awards program is not limited to business. This is the only e-tourism awards program that recognizes individuals for telling their travel stories online.”   Many travellers share their stories, photos, and even videos about their travel experiences on the internet.  This information is widely used and trusted by consumers in their travel research. We want to salute the most intriguing and exciting moments of travellers’ vacations and explorations in Canada.”

“The Canadian e-Tourism Awards will recognize individual travellers who create engaging online Canadian travel stories - told through words, photos or video on social networks or individual websites and blogs - and businesses that prove innovation, creativity and results in marketing Canadian travel experiences”, says 2009 Canadian e-Tourism Awards Chair Carol Alderdice of Tourism New Brunswick.

The Canadian e-Tourism Awards are now open to individuals and businesses - in a host of categories - who feature, market, or sell a Canadian destination, product, attraction, or experience. Award criteria and applications are now available online at www.canadianetourismawards.com.   The awards are produced by Chameleon Strategies, and the website is hosted by REZGO and will feature online nominations and voting by individuals and businesses online.  Entries will be accepted until midnight EDT, June 30sth, 2009.

Unlike other awards programs, nominations are free of charge a as the entry fee of $95 is waived for the second time in a row, and consumers can nominate and vote on all entries.

The judging will be done by the online communities and the top 5 from each category will be judged by the Canadian e-Tourism Council.  Unique to the Canadian e-Tourism Awards, the individual who nominates the “Best in Show” winner will receive special recognition.

Sponsor support for the awards will enable the Canadian and international public to vote online for their favourite Canadian travel websites and campaigns from the entered finalists of the awards competition. This public input will figure importantly in the e-Tourism Council’s selection of the best overall entry.

How to Enter

Enter now through June 30^th, 2009 at www.canadianetourismawards.com. Individual traveller and business entries will be judged for quality and the impact of their contributions. Individual entry is open to anyone who raises awareness and interest in Canada online, through content that can include their personal travel experiences told through stories, photos, or videos. These can be posted on a personal blog or community sites. Business entry is open to small- and mid-sized companies that promote Canada online, whether they are based in Canada or outside its borders.

Categories

1. Best Website

2. Best Online Campaign

3. Best Innovation / Use of Technology

4. Best Tourism Industry Blog

5. Best Social Media Application

6. Best Mobile Application

7. Best Canadian Destination Online

8. Most Engaging Story

9. Most Captivating Photo

10. Most Experiential Video

11. Most Inspirational Blog

About the Canadian e-Tourism Awards

Founded by Jens Thraenhart, former Executive Director of E-Marketing & CRM at the Canadian Tourism Commission, the Canadian e-Tourism Awards honour the best in Canadian travel experience articulation and information presence online, created by individuals and businesses around the world. Self-nominated and judged by the public and members of the Canadian e-Tourism Council, winners will be recognized online, in a lavish online ceremony on Facebook (http://tinyurl.com/dyyuk4) and Twitter (@etourismawards).

For more information or to nominate work, visit www.canadianetourismawards.com or contact  Carol Alderdice (carol.alderdice at gnb.ca), the 2009-2010 Chair of the Canadian e-Tourism Awards.

– 30 -

Media contacts:

Jens Thraenhart, Chameleon Strategies (Founder and President, Canadian e-Tourism Awards)

Carol Alderdice, Tourism New Brunswick (2009-2010 Chair, Canadian e-Tourism Awards)

Aaron Nissen, Travel Alberta (2009-2010 Co-Chair, Canadian e-Tourism Council)

Rick Gaunt, Tourism Manitoba (2009-2010 Co-Chair, Canadian e-Tourism Council)

Canadian online travel and hospitality marketers are pushing out some of the most innovative content available anywhere. And now, you have the opportunity to be recognized for your incredible creative and development efforts at the first ever Canada e-Tourism Awards.

Hosted by the Canadian e-Tourism Council, the prestigious Canada e-Tourism Awards recognize excellence in website design, online marketing campaigns and innovation within three sectors: public, private and small-to-medium sized enterprises.

The awards also aim to recognize travellers by showcasing the best in user generated content with awards for the best storytelling, the best photo, and the best video or short-film.

Nominations run until August 31st, so it would be a great idea to start thinking about your entries.

There are a number of web awards currently open for submissions online, and today I was considering what makes the first ever Canadian e-Tourism Awards different, or unique from other options. Is there a compelling reason why online travel and hospitality marketers in Canada and around the world should submit their nominations to the Canadian e-Tourism Awards over another premier award event?

Of course there is! In fact, there are many reasons:

First of all, the Canadian e-Tourism Awards are exactly that-Canadian. The Awards are open to enterprises in Canada and around the planet who promote uniquely Canadian experiences. Is there another online awards that specifically focuses on creative talent and success stories in the Canadian travel and tourism arena on an international scale?

The Awards further offer some exciting and unique category segments that simply aren’t available in any other online award format. The “Best Website Design” category is bound to be an anticipated announcement, but there are more exciting categories to be judged. For example, the “online marketing campaign” category highlights successful practices in channel integration, return on investment and the ability to achieve a specific goal and prompt a call-to-action. Talk about a focus on quality.

Consider the award for “innovation”, which focusses on the use of technology to leverage consumer trends and contribute to strategic alignment. The Canadian e-Tourism Awards are looking for nominations that may include mapping applications, GPS applications, Google Earth integration, wireless marketing applications and social media interpretations. The use of other emerging web technologies is proliferating in the online travel space in Canada, and the Awards offer an incredible opportunity for Canadian organizations to be recognized for their innovative efforts.

If you take a look at the who’s-who member list of the Canadian Tourism Council and you’ll find an incredible community of e-talent. Clearly, council members are experts in their fields, and these are the e-tourism professionals who, along with the general public, will be judging the e-Tourism Awards. Where else can travel and tourism industry organizations be judged and recognized by true experts (and colleagues) in the Canadian travel sphere? The quality of judging in itself should be a very compelling reason to participate.

Yahoo! has agreed to support the Awards by enabling the Canadian and International public to vote online for their favorite Canadian travel websites and campaigns. This public input will factor importantly in the e-Tourism Council’s selection of the best overall campaign, to which Yahoo! Canada will also award the Yahoo! Big Idea Chair, recognized worldwide as a hallmark for exceptional achievement in online marketing creativity.

The first ever Canadian e-Tourism Awards are going to be an exciting event, and I’m personally excited to see who will be named the best-in-show in both the Industry and Traveller categories.

With less than two weeks left until the submission deadline, I urge you not to wait any longer to submit your nominations. Entries will be accepted until August 31, 2007 from around the world so long as they feature, market, or sell a Canadian destination, product, attraction, or experience.