Commenting on the interactive website, which has been designed to be user-friendly, Ellingson said: “The new Durban 2010 website now gives us a platform to showcase the city and 2010 developments to the rest of the world.”
In its initial phase the website serves as an information portal to local residents wanting to know about the city's preparations for the FIFA World Cup, as well as potential visitors who want to know more about the city. “The website is a source of up-to-date information with factual, easy-to-read content on subjects such as stadium construction, infrastructure development and transportation,” said Ellingson.
Designed by a local IT firm, AdaptIT, the website is designed to capture Durban's personality and was developed using world-class technology. Content will be updated on a regular basis and will maintain freshness designed give all visitors to the site a good reason to keep coming back.
The website will launch in English and Zulu and, at a later stage, will also be made available in another three of the official FIFA languages - Spanish, German and French. (According to a 14 January 2009 release on the FIFA website, Arabic is to be the fifth official language of world football's governing body.)
The Durban website is designed to boast different, cutting-edge features, such as the stadium's live webcam, with images of the stadium construction being updated every 15 minutes, fun interactive postcards, novel image galleries and more.
Besides the Durban-related information, fans will be able to get updates on FIFA-related football stories, as well as useful information about the city and its various attractions.
“It's important that the website provides a productive, memorable and frustration-free experience for our visitors. We wanted to create a website that would be a source of useful information for tourists who want to visit the city, as well as showcase Durban as being a technically savvy city. When it comes to Durban 2010, www.fifaworldcup.durban.gov.za will be the ‘one stop shop' for all information”, concluded Ellingson.
