Berlin, 15th June, 2010 Berlin Tourismus Marketing (BTM), in time with the start of the Soccer World Cup and holiday season, presents its new internet presence for national and foreign guests of the city: as of today, the test version of www.visitBerlin.de is online and thereby offers Berlin visitors a new updated platform to inform themselves on a journey to the German capital. At the forefront of the new conception stood a revised editorial approach, a clear design as well as optimization in the areas of e-commerce and social media.

“Our new website visitBerlin.de is like a living city magazine in the online sector”, said Burkhard Kieker, Chief Executive Officer of BTM. “Therewith, Berlin is a trendsetter among the international destinations. We are opening our network for many personal Berlin experiences, which we would like to pass on to the visitors of our city”.

Berliners test the online presence

For relaunch, under the slogan “Berliners test the new Berlin portal”, the BTM starts a call-up.

To it, Anja Seugling, Director of Communications: “We want to ask all visitors and especially Berliners for feedback, whether we are portraying the diversity and the excitement of this city with our new portal. Ultimately, the Berliners know their city the best and are thereby also undeniably the best travel guides.“

The new website at a glance

The five menu points See, Experience, Plan, Book and Berlin WelcomeCard order the website content wise. By way of dynamically generated lists, the most popular articles of the users—for instance the highest rated or most read—are displayed for orientation.

In the section “See”, readers find all the very special sights and attractive places of Berlin, as well as an overview of Berlin as a creative metropolis. Novelty is here the detailed presentation of the creative metropolis Berlin in all its facets.

Newly rehashed is also the Berliner events calendar, which in the section “Experience”, contains more than 10,000 events, and these among other things are displayed as tips of the day or this year’s highlights. This calendar is content wise be jointly tended by Berlin Partner and the BTM cooperation with the network www.berlin-buehnen.de. It is also integrated into the city portal Berlin.de.

In the section “Plan”, by way of special filters, visitBerlin.de offers selected contents for special interests: whether young people or families, travellers with exclusive demands, gay or lesbian or environmentally conscious - on visitBerlin.de different types of visitors find Berlin contents tailored to their individual interests. The Berliner districts are also prominently tied into this section.

Hotel booking for guests further improved

The BTM’s own hotel booking engine was also further improved: it is at the centrepiece of the section “Book” and is now even faster, more user friendly and offers many new features.

Under the header “Berlin WelcomeCard” users can again inform themselves with targeted information on Berlin’s official tourist card and also instantly book it online.

Outlook

The website visitBerlin.de is for the time being in German and English; more languages will follow. Furthermore, an online community, mobile applications and additional new functionalities are being planned.

Alongside it, the B2B portals for the congress and travel industry as well as the business partners in Berlin Tourismus will be updated and go live by the end of the year.

The new internet presence was for the most part cost-effectively compiled in-house.

Further information can be found at www.visitBerlin.de.

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