The Costa del Sol - arguably the jewel in the crown of Spain’s coastal holiday destinations - represents a significant milestone in the rollout of the UK firm’s international strategy. The Costa del Sol accounts for 40% of the tourism in Andalucia, with more than 17 million overnight stays a year.

The new look website visitcostadelsol.com, which is due to go live in August 2010, will reflect the essence and personality of the popular destination, promoting  the area's wealth of tourism potential beyond the coastal regions. The site will be built using a specially adapted Spanish version of New Mind’s renowned Destination Management System (DMS). 

The DMS provides all of the tools necessary to successfully manage and promote a destination to the discerning 21st century visitor. It offers a complete set of tourism management, promotion and fulfilment tools, and has a centralised database at its core covering everything from attractions, accommodation and events to businesses and visitor information.

New Mind’s DMS has a proven track record in increasing online bookings and visitor numbers, and is already used by over half of the tourist boards in the UK. Every month in the UK alone its DMS handles bookings to the value of £1 million pounds and its portals receive more than 2 million unique visitors. 

The Costa del Sol Tourist Board awarded the three year contract to New Mind’s Spanish reseller, Vilau. They were particularly impressed with the breadth of functionality and flexibility of the DMS, its integration with complementary solutions and its track record for boosting booking revenue and website visitor traffic for tourism  destinations in the UK.

Richard Veal, managing director of New Mind, said: “Our e-tourism solution combines best-of-breed technology with leading-edge internet design and marketing capabilities to enable destination organisations to grow their tourism economies in an increasingly competitive global marketplace. The Costa del Sol is arguably the jewel in the crown of Spain’s coastal holiday destinations and we are delighted that our software has been chosen by the Costa del Sol Tourist Board. As a result of the investment we made in ‘globalising’ our DMS technology two years ago, it can now be ‘localised’ to suit any international tourist destination. This is an exciting time for the company, both internationally and in the UK, as we bid for further new contracts and expand our team of licensed resellers.”

Vilau is taking the lead role on the design and technical development of the new website.

Ricardo Gonzalez, technology director at Vilau, said: "Vilau is delighted to face the challenge of introducing New Mind/s DMS to the Spanish Tourism Market. This renowned solution, widely deployed in other markets, will enable new models of collaboration for the public and private sector and will contribute to the comprehensive development of the Costa del Sol region's tourism industry."

New Mind is going from strength to strength, having won a string of new contracts in the UK in recent months for destinations including Visit Lincolnshire and Visit Nottinghamshire. It has also appointed resellers for its DMS in Spain, Brazil and Italy, and is looking to appoint further resellers in other countries.