The site is expected to go live in stages over the second half of the year and is a joint initiative between the City of Greater Bendigo and Bendigo Regional Tourism.

Bendigo Tourism Board chair Kathie Bolitho said evolving technology is important for healthy and growing tourist industries.

“Guests now do all of their travel research on line, including research of the area, assessing peer reviews, making bookings and asking questions,” she said.

“If your website does not supply this information quickly and logically then potential sales and income can be lost.”

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The idea behind the new platform is to make planning a visit to the region easier, council tourism and major events manager Terry Karamaloudis said.

“Working together to share resources and knowledge is becoming increasingly important, as is marketing the region and all it has to offer to visitors,” he said.

More than 1000 people use the Bendigo Tourism site every day, which Mr Karamaloudis said underlines the importance of having all the right information at people’s fingertips.

The Bendigo Tourism site would soon be combined with those of The Capital, Bendigo Art Gallery, Visit Maryborough, Castlemaine Maldon and the Loddon Shire Council.

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“Each site will have a unique address, but will operate on the same content management system,” Mr Karamaloudis said.

“This will allow for greater efficiencies with sharing information across the region and across sites. It will also improve functionality for accommodation, experience and event bookings.”

Ms Bolitho said regions and tourism businesses with strong focuses on internet presences and innovative uses of technology were already ahead of competing destinations.

She said one thing many local businesses should make sure they were offering fantastic online experiences.

“When we often look at the current data on the (current Bendigo Tourism) website, it's not the 'hero' attractions, restaurants and businesses that get the most hits,” Ms Bolitho said.

“It's a level playing field with surprising results on which of our industry members are most visited.”