One of the Department of Tourism's major successes last year was its revamped website, according to Premier Ewart Brown.

And, he said, brand awareness of the Island was increasing thanks to GlobalHue advertising.

Bermuda will be highlighted on a travel adventure series on NBC, and two cruise liners have already signed on for 2011.

These were just some of the examples hailed as achievements by the Tourism Minister in Thursdays's year-end review of the industry.

"Our digital marketing agency, iCrossing, has done a fantastic job in the past several months in driving increased traffic and awareness through BermudaTourism.com," Dr. Brown said. "Total visits are up 82 percent and unique visitors are up 101 percent. The measure of how long a visitor stays on the site [the bounce rate] is down 34 percent. This is great news because it means visitors are not leaving the site right away, they are staying to see what we have to offer.

"Major natural search initiatives have moved BermudaTourism.com to the number one results position in Google searches of the word 'Bermuda'. The current website is a little over five years old and has been improved a few times, the most recent taking place in 2009. As I reported in the third quarter of 2009, plans are underway for the creation of a dynamic new website set to launch in 2010. Look out for more soon."

And Dr. Brown said the summer exit survey, obtained by The Royal Gazette in January, illustrated advertising recall among leisure visitors has returned to highs previously recorded in the summer of 2003.

"Eight months ago, GlobalHue, our advertising agency, rolled out an excellent new campaign that will serve us well in the next 12 months," he said. "The exit survey results I mentioned earlier citing advertising recall back to 2003 levels is testament that we are on a right path. GlobalHue is now developing an exciting mobile telephone strategy to be adopted in the first half of the year based on apps for smartphones like the iPhone and the BlackBerry."

The Department of Tourism will be the featured destination in a half-hour golf and travel show called 'Global Golf Adventure', hosted by NBC Sports' Mark Rolfing. The show will be broadcast nationally on NBC on Saturday, May 8, prior to the third round coverage of the Players Championship.

Dr. Brown also announced that both Holland America and Norwegian Cruise Lines have already committed to running cruises to the Island in 2011.