The 24 Hour Museum, the UK’s online guide to museums, galleries and heritage, has been recognised for its high quality website in the prestigious Tourism ExSEllence Awards 2006.

The website was named as a Highly Commended entrant in the Tourism Website of the Year category of the awards, which are run by Tourism South East. The 24 Hour Museum received the accolade at an awards ceremony on Thursday 5 October organised to recognise commitment to quality, innovation and service in all aspects of different tourism businesses.

“The website is highly impressive in its scope, content and design, making it highly attractive and appealing to its target audience,” said Tourism South East Managing Director Bob Collier. “It has enjoyed tremendous feedback from users and from the sector and is therefore highly deserving of its Highly Commended award.”

Designed to recognise the huge importance of the internet as an information and booking tool within the tourism industry, Judges looked in particular for innovative websites that are highly ‘fit for purpose’ in addressing the business’s target market.

Aspects of design, quality, accessibility and the incorporation of clear navigation were also considered as well as the demonstration of proven success as a marketing tool.

As well as averaging one million page impressions a month, with more than 3.3million unique visitors to the site in 2005, the 24 Hour Museum was acknowledged for a host of user-friendly features including a sophisticated RSS feed which has driven a massive increase in visitor sessions to the website. It was also noted that 24 Hour Museum has played an active role in promoting the use of RSS within the sector.