MEDIA RELEASE : FEBRUARY 2006

For Immediate Release

General Distribution

2nd February 2006

Web Tourism Prospers

Following on from its 3rd year in the Deloitte Fast 50, and Tourism Awards success in 2004 and 2005, Internet tourism company New Zealand Tourism Online (NZTO) has won a Hitwise Online Performance Award for its Web site www.tourism.net.nz. Hitwise independently measures Internet traffic and judged NZTO the number 1 Web site in New Zealand for traffic to its site in the 'Travel - Destinations and Accommodation' category for 2005.

Online travel related services are proving popular as e-commerce continues to develop by making it even easier for travellers to enquire or to book their holidays from afar. Companies such as Air New Zealand are continuing to expand their direct online sales and according the Nielson Netratings, 50% of regular internet users have accessed information about travel online over the past year.

This growth is reflected in New Zealand Tourism Online (NZTO) statistics which have seen a 90% growth in visits to its Web site www.tourism.net.nz between 2004 and 2005. In recognition of the quantity of visitors the site attracts, Hitwise, an independent company that measures Internet traffic, judged NZTO as the number 1 Web site in New Zealand in the 'Travel - Destinations and Accommodation' category for 2005. The Online Performance Award follows on from a 3rd consecutive year in the Deloitte Fast 50, and Tourism Awards success in 2004 and 2005.

"The reach the internet is definitely increasing", says NZTO General Manager Garry Bond, "and we only have to look at the expansion of China where there are currently over 110 million Web users to realise the growth will continue for some time".

NZTO is a privately owned Internet company specialising in the promotion of New Zealand as a destination to international and domestic travellers.

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