RealTravel Awarded Best Online Travel Community of 2007 by Association of Travel Marketing Executives

Los Altos, CA (PRWEB) June 20, 2007 -- RealTravel (http://realtravel.com), a travel blogging and travel guide site that helps more than half a million people every month plan trips with advice from other travelers, was awarded the Atlas Award for the Best Online Travel Community of 2007 by the Association of Travel Marketing Executives (ATME) at their recent annual conference.

Travel blogs, written by real travelers, have proven to be a valuable source of trusted and detailed information for people researching a vacation, while also enabling marketers to appeal to people who are in the process of planning a trip. Unlike other user-contributed sites, RealTravel ensures the quality of its information with an in-house editorial team that rates all of the content contributed to the site.

“RealTravel was selected as this year’s Best Online Community Atlas winner because of the company’s expanding online community that attracts real people and is highly rated by consumers and travel service providers alike,” said Joel Chusid, Chairman, ATME.

“RealTravel has done an excellent job over the past year to prove the importance of online communities in effectively putting a message across to people on a highly personal level.”

In his keynote presentation at the ATME conference, Henry Harteveldt, VP of Travel at Forrester Research, pointed out that people are relying more on fellow travelers for guidance when planning a trip and that marketers must recognize the new environment in which they are operating.

The ATME Atlas Awards recognize executives and companies for innovative tactics, results-oriented programs and broad marketing vision. Work is judged on innovation, relevance to marketing needs and demonstrated results.

“We are extremely honored to be acknowledged by such a prestigious group from the travel industry,” said Ken Leeder, CEO of RealTravel. “RealTravel strives to be a leader in quality user-generated content for people planning trips, and to make it easy for our advertisers to work with us and generate effective results.”

ATME, founded in 1980, is a professional organization comprised of senior-level marketing executives from high profile travel companies that represent a wide variety of segments including: airlines, hotels and resorts, cruise lines, tour operators, online travel, international tourist offices, CVBs, state and local tourism offices, car rental companies and technology providers.

The award was presented to RealTravel on June 7 during a ceremony at the annual ATME conference in Las Vegas.

About RealTravel
Named "One of the Twelve Essential Travel Websites" and "Best of the Web" by Forbes and BusinessWeek, RealTravel is a travel blogging and information site that helps more than half a million people every month plan trips with advice from other travelers. Visit us at http://realtravel.com.

Media Contacts:
Christina Brzica
RealTravel.com
christina @ realtravel.com
650-694-4970

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