Tourism Tasmania's $1 million website revamp new push to lure tourists to state

A $1 MILLION website is the latest weapon unveiled by Tourism Tasmania in the battle to lure visitors to the state.

Tas Tourism website

A $1 MILLION website is the latest weapon unveiled by Tourism Tasmania in the battle to lure visitors to the state.

A revamped site was launched yesterday, replacing the 12-year-old Discover Tasmania website.

Tourism Tasmania chief executive John Fitzgerald said 2.5 million people visited the site each year, making it a vital tool for people thinking about a holiday in the state.

The new site includes information about more than 2000 tourism businesses.

Mr Fitzgerald said the $1 million cost was terrific value and would help keep the industry on track to boost visitor numbers to 1.5 million in the next seven years, and increase visitor spending to $2 billion.

The cost included the development of a new digital marketing strategy, with $550,000 spent on the website's design, technology and creation.

Mr Fitzgerald said the site moved Tourism Tasmania into the "brave new world of advocacy advertising", encouraging travellers to share their blogs, tweets, pictures and videos on the site.

The site has been 18 months in the making and has basic maps and travel itineraries.

Unlike the old site, there's no paid advertising.

"We did have a differentiated payment scheme on the old site where you could pay to get a better listing," Mr Fitzgerald said.

"We've got rid of that. We want to expose all of Tasmania's depth and breadth."

Tourism Minister Scott Bacon said the site was good value for money.

"It's a fantastic website that will run now on different types of technology, things like iPhones [and] tablets," he said.

Visit the new website at discovertasmania.com.au