South Africa beats cyber squatters to secure domain name

In addition, the portal celebrates 18 months of steady growth, with page impressions now at more than 360 000, a tenfold increase since its launch in 2001. Previously known as www.safrica.info, the portal provides online visitors with detailed, up-to-date information on South Africa.

The International Marketing Council, a public/private sector partnership established by the Cabinet in 2000, tasked with creating a positive and united image for South Africa is the organization behind the web portal. CEO, Yvonne Johnston, says, "The portal plays a vital role in equipping web users with accurate and up-to-date information on the country and its many, growing successes. It also assists with supporting tourism, trade and investment in South Africa, as it is increasingly becoming the source of choice for many internet users seeking useful and balanced information on South Africa. Having the correct domain name, www.southafrica.info, means that we can now actively market the site, which will, in turn, help to market South Africa. It is also a much more easily recognisable name and we anticipate many more visitors to the site as a result."

She adds: "This portal is a world first. Other countries have official portals devoted to tourism, to foreign investment, or to supplying government services to their own citizens. However, www.southafrica.info appears to be the only one in the world which attempts to cover a broad spectrum of a country's activities, including culture, sport, heritage, geography, food, investment opportunities, labour information, travel tips, current business news and weather."

The web portal has been the platform for many successful online campaigns. Earlier this year, it was the official online "Madiba birthday site", with South Africans and other well wishers from all over the world sending over 17 000 messages to Nelson Mandela for his 85th birthday.

More recently, it afforded thousands of people the opportunity to send their messages of support to the Bokke online, during the Rugby World Cup 2003. Currently, South Africans are sending messages of support for South Africa to FIFA, through the portal, hoping to convince them that South Africa is the best possible country to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Public support of this bid is a crucial element of FIFA's judging criteria.

Innovative solutions, such as a mapping service, are continually being added to www.southafrica.info, with the aim of increasing both the portal's usefulness and the number of people who choose it as their first point of contact for the most balanced, up-to-date and useable information on South Africa.

Johnston concludes, "We ask you to share this fantastic tool with readers, listeners, friends, family and colleagues. As the portal becomes more and more well known, so South Africa's successes will increasingly be shared with all South Africans and the rest of the world."

To get first-hand experience of what South Africa looks like online, log onto www.southafrica.info. For more information on the International Marketing Council, please refer to www.imc.org.za.