Galveston.com Celebrates 15 Years with Launch of New Website

[April 13, 2009 - Galveston, TX] - In honor of the 15th Anniversary of its flagship website, Galveston.com & Company is pleased to present the all-new Galveston.com, launching April 13, 2009.

Over two years in development, the new 20% wider portal features a host of conveniences, interactivity, and functionality that was only imagined when the company first bowed in 1994.

Rich with interactive polls, site-wide searchability, a greatly-enhanced GALVESTON.COMmunity with forums and blogs , audio and video podcasts (the first tourism bureau website in the world to offer such), tourism-related rss feeds, member pages for local businesses, continuously-updated AccuWeather, city-wide megapixel webcams, personalized itinerary builder, "one-click" expandable navigation, an award-winning video channel, Flash photoshows, completely customizable and portable calendars, continuously-updated news via a new partnership with The Galveston County Daily News, and complete interactive reservations for lodging, cruises, cruise parking, and airport transfers, the new Galveston.com is quite unlike any other destination portal you've seen before.

The project has been in actual production for two years - with three teams of programmers, designers, and production managers in place. The project was managed by company President Lee Roane and Vice-President of Operations Kent Muller. ASP and database programmers included Cedric de Walsche and Sonya Valdez. Web design and photography was provided by Vadim Troshkin. Vice-President of Sales & Marketing Jan Inlow managed information and data gathering, with assistance by Kim Morales, Mary Roy, and Chris Aleman, all of Galveston.com & Company.

The new website was graphically designed by Simon Adams, of the United Kingdom's LucidMedia. With a client list including ABC News, Mercedes Benz, PBS, Sharp, and Siemens, the company was more-than-qualified to deliver the high-quality desired. He was assisted in Galveston by Vice President & Chief Creative Officer Jim Cordell.

Local tourism-related businesses are also in for quite a surprise - unsurpassed visibility and versatility. The new Galveston.com features literally hundreds of mini-websites for local tourism-related businesses, offering site visitors infinitely more information than a simple name, address, and phone number. The mini-sites include logos, Flash photoshows, informative copy, custom maps and driving directions, downloadable menus and brochures, interactive calendars, Flash video, and more. All completely searchable utilizing Galveston.com's own Google-powered search engine.

And for local and regional businesses, advertising opportunities on Galveston's official tourism website are a dream. Receiving many thousands of visitors to the site each and every day, Galveston.com is the perfect way to get a local business' information distributed to Island visitors.

Galveston.com & Company won a Stevie Award for Best Overall Website Design in The 2006 American Business Awards. Hailed as “the business world’s own Oscars” by the New York Post, The American Business Awards are the only national, all-encompassing business awards program honoring great performances in the workplace. In winning the Stevie, Galveston.com & Company beat out other finalists including Polo Ralph Lauren, Entergy Corporation, and Delphi.

For more information, contact Galveston.com & Company via phone at (409)763-8676 or email at websites@galveston.com.

About Galveston.com & Company...

Galveston.com & Company, Inc. is a destination marketing corporation based in Galveston, Texas. The company specializes in destination portals, as well as online lodging, cruise, parking, and transfer reservations via its proprietary DestinationNext_^TM reservation module. For more information, contact Galveston.com & Company at via phone (409)763-8676 or email at websites@galveston.com.