Online travel guide My Destination fends off any future threat from Google's recent acquisition of Frommer's by reinforcing its USP of local expertise via a strong emphasis on local tips and expertise, videos and panoramic virtual tours on its newly revamped portal.

My Destination re-launched its portal of 68 destination websites that span the world (with a further 55 destinations literally in the making), from Singapore to Malta, Kenya and Tenerife.

With dedicated local teams at each of its destinations who have been building 'on-the-ground' relationships with local businesses (51,000 in total) and communities since 2006, My Destination cements its USP of local expertise with the new site.

Showcasing local tips, local expert reviews, and exclusive offers that are only attainable through our local relationships with businesses, users enjoy the kind of information that travellers cherish, but can usually only attain once they arrive at the location (and rarely find on big name global travel guide sites).

Since My Destination's earliest days 'local expertise' has been its mantra and this is now vindicated as a sustainable proposition and differentiator against the omniscient Google as the latter encroaches more and more into the travel sector (first with the buyout of ITA (for bookings), then Zagat (user reviews), and now Frommer's (editorial content)).

"By the sheer size of the web, there is quality content out there. Google has the key to find it. But for all its complexity we still think that at the end of the day it's sheer brawn and computational power – that's what search engines are good for, and what Google does best. But that's a commodity. My Destination is more than that – we aim to give our users value-add. For us this is through ‘local expertise', and there's only one way to get that and it's with people on the ground, not with rows upon rows of computers in the middle of the desert on the other side of the world, or an editorial team in global head office. We absolutely pride ourselves in our ‘hand-made' approach to each of our destinations so that we offer our users the service and knowledge that only local people can provide" - Neil Waller, CEO

This local presence has also resulted in a vast volume of multimedia content in the form of professional-quality videos and panoramic virtual tours (3,000 in total and growing), which are arguably industry leading in terms of coverage. These, together with close to 1,100 articles and a quarter of a million photographs, are all aimed to inspire and inform users who have visited the portal 18 million times in the last year.

"My Destination Singapore has always been able to achieve a global reach and now with the launch of the new site and with emphasis on marketing and promotion we are confident that our local businesses will be even more successful in attracting visitors. The addition of many new features on the site also means that we're offering a whole host of benefits to local users. We are a global brand in the making, whilst still servicing our local audience." – Monika Khaled, Director, My Destination Singapore

My Destination is also increasing its offering by providing users with online booking. To offer competitive deals it has partnered up with global providers for accommodation (Hotels Combined), flights (Sky Scanner), Car Rental (CarTrawler) and travel insurance (WorldNomads). My Destination is about being locally informed, and globally inspired.