Arkansas Tourism Announces New Arkansas Blog Hub and iPhone Application

LITTLE ROCK, AR--(Marketwire - January 29, 2010) - Tweet. Friend. Follow. Blog. Interact. The Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism has two new ways for you to connect and experience The Natural State. Arkansas Tourism announces the launch of VisitmyArkansas.com, a new social networking Arkansas blog hub. Arkansas Tourism also plans to launch a new iPhone application featuring ArkansasHotDeals.com packages and coupons in March 2010.

VisitmyArkansas.com consists of five interactive Arkansas blog pages written and maintained by the four department travel writers -- Kerry Kraus, Jill Rohrbach, Zoie Clift, and Kim Williams -- along with Communications Section Manager Dena Woerner. Through this platform, the public can access Arkansas Tourism's other social networking sites, including Whrrl, Twitter and Facebook. Each Arkansas blog allows the public to submit questions via the "Ask the Insiders" section.

"The idea behind VisitmyArkansas.com is to bring people to our blogs before they enter our social networking pages," says Woerner. Arkansas blog topics include travel, food & wine, music, arts, culture, health, and fitness.

The iPhone application will feature downloadable coupons, special deals and packages with a searchable "near me" function, providing visitors with information on dining, lodging, and attractions in Arkansas.

The Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism leapt into the social networking scene in January 2009. At that time, Arkansas only had a MySpace page. The team now maintains and interacts daily with the public through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, and Whrrl. In December 2009, Arkansas became the first state tourism office in the U.S. to have a branded Whrrl page. Fans post stories and photos of attractions, parks, and events throughout the state using these online venues.

Arkansas.com remains one of the top tourism Web sites in the country according to "Hitwise" data. It continues to rank number one among Arkansas's competitive set, which includes Oklahoma, Mississippi, Missouri, Louisiana, Texas and Tennessee.

The Department of Parks and Tourism Communications section promotes Arkansas's bountiful offerings through feature stories, blogs and releases, and stunning photography, while assisting the media. "We work closely with journalists to provide resources for stories to promote tourism to Arkansas. VisitmyArkansas.com is just one more channel to get information to the public and to travel writers across the globe," said Woerner.

For more information about VisitmyArkansas.com or the ArkansasHotDeals.com iPhone application, contact Dena Woerner at communications@arkansas.com.

Contact Information: Contact: Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism Dena Woerner