At an awards ceremony and gala dinner held November 28th in Dijon, France the editors of Burgundy Eye and its sister site in French, Vision Bourgogne ( http://www.visionbourgogne.com/ ) received the trophy granted by the regional tourist board and the Dijon Chamber of Commerce in recognition of the web sites' indispensable role in informing visitors planning their trip to Burgundy.
Burgundy Eye ( http://www.burgundyeye.com/ ) and Vision Bourgogne ( http://www.visionbourgogne.com/ ) were selected as 'most innovative and dynamic' contributor to tourism in the French region of Burgundy and awarded the Burgundy Tourism Trophy for the best Internet-based travel guides on the region. Organised by the regional tourist board, Burgundy Tourism and the Regional Council of Burgundy, the Burgundy Tourism Trophy awards are held every two years. Monsieur Didier Martin, President of the Comité Régional du Tourisme and Monsieur Patrick Laforêt, President of the Dijon Chamber of Commerce (CCI) presented editors of Burgundy Eye and Vision Bourgogne, David and Laurence Cogan, with the 2007 trophy at an awards dinner for 400 invited guests at the Dijon Convention Centre.
For this year's awards, the Dijon Chamber of Commerce and Burgundy Tourism partnered to select outstanding players active in Burgundy travel. Designed to reward and promote the activities of especially innovative players, the final selection by the CCI and CRT juries honoured just three candidates. Winners of the Burgundy Tourism Trophies are usually selected from a pool of applications submitted 6 months in advance. The on line magazines and travel guides Burgundy Eye and Vision Bourgogne were awarded a special jury prize based on spontaneous selection, without prior request for consideration from the prize winner.
Launched in English in August 2006 and in French in April this year, Burgundy Eye Vision Bourgogne are already the leading web based guides to the Burgundy region of France. Magazine style articles on the web sites provide independent advice and personal viewpoints from local residents. Nearly 7000 directory listings in the guide directories cover most of the accommodation, the restaurants, wine, attractions and activities available in this area of France. The What's On calender lists hundreds of upcoming events categorised into 17 different geographic zones and 150 localities. Weather feeds give current conditions and 15-day forecasts for 12 areas within Burgundy. Thanks to partnerships with 8 different Internet booking agencies, the Burgundy Eye and Vision Bourgogne web sites feature every accommodation option and restaurant offering immediate Internet booking. Says editor David Cogan "If it's in Burgundy and can be booked on the Internet then we have it".
The Burgundy Tourism Trophy jury selected the travel guides Burgundy Eye and Vision Bourgogne for their innovative and user-friendly design. Cutting edge web 2.0 features allow users to submit ratings of and review all the listings in the guide. Marie-George Pernaton of the Dijon Chamber of Commerce tourism section highlighted the fact that the guides are fully bi-lingual, "with Burgundy Eye, English speakers from all over the world now have a complete window on Burgundy and unique insights into the region's food and wine heritage." The web site offers a wide breadth of objective, independent information to the visitor and very attractive advertising options for tourism and wine businesses. Visitor traffic to Vision Bourgogne and Burgundy Eye continues to soar, far exceeding the founders' expectations for visitor traffic.
