The Tourism Service Award for September goes to...

100% True New Zealand

Sounding just a little like the New Zealand Tourism Board's 100% Pure New Zealand marketing slogan, this site is a good option for visitors who would rather book their vacation in one place, than deal with several operators individually. There seems to be a good number of travel options/companies listed. Where information is a little thin, external sites are called upon to "fill the gaps" such as the "ticket finder" and currency and distance calculators. Good to see a secure booking/reservation form (at last), an essential for accepting credit card details over the internet. The dark blue and yellow colours used are both effective and harmonious, and the graphics of a high standard. The word accommodation however, seemed to be spelled incorrectly on every graphic (a point which had one of our judges thinking she was going mad). The site is navigable by several means based upon age, interest and whether you are looking for an independent or fully escorted tour. It would be nice to see more sites adopt such user friendly methods. We did notice whilst conducting accommodation searches that many results displayed a confusing message: "Not a recommended property, please search for a recommended property". We can appreciate that a site might wish to offer an incentive for an establishment to form a closer alliance, but this message almost gave the impression that the company "disaproved" of some establishments. Others may have a different view but we thought it worth mentioning. Otherwise the site appeared to provide a useful service visitors and answer most questions they might about their vacation.

© 1999 Discover New Zealand Magazine