Expedia Media Announces Marketing Campaign Support for Gulf State Destinations Impacted by Oil Spill

BELLEVUE, Wash., July 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Expedia® Media, the advertising sales division of global online travel leader Expedia, Inc., today announced efforts to provide marketing support to destinations impacted by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

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During July, August and September 2010, Expedia Media will offer a three to one media matching program for destination marketing organizations (DMOs) and tourism boards located in the Gulf states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi. Organizations in these areas will receive three dollars in marketing value for every one dollar spent with Expedia Media. The matching program will allow destinations in need of tourism to stretch their promotional dollars and further increase their visibility among travel shoppers visiting the Expedia, Inc. sites.

"Expedia stands behind our destination and supply partners throughout the Gulf states," said Doug Miller, Global Vice President, Expedia® Media Solutions. "We hope we can help minimize the economic impact of the oil spill and help Gulf state destinations overcome challenges in consumer perception that have kept travelers away even from unaffected areas."

In addition to the media matching program, Expedia Media will donate one full-day "homepage takeover" campaign on Expedia.com® and hotels.com® for each Gulf states. A separate campaign will run for each state and will utilize Expedia's premier Homepage Wallpaper advertising product, providing highly visual, exclusive placement on the Expedia.com and hotels.com homepages. Together, the two sites are the most highly trafficked online travel agency marketplace, offering prime marketing visibility for the Gulf states to reach a very large, relevant audience of travel shoppers when they need it most.

Expedia Media plans to support each homepage takeover campaign with an additional $50,000 worth of online media that will appear as display ads throughout Expedia.com. Additionally, Expedia Partner Services Group (PSG), the division that manages Expedia's relationship with hotels, airlines and other supply partners, is working with travel suppliers in the Gulf states to deliver special offers for consumers during the homepage campaigns. PSG's team of hundreds of employees in local markets across the globe works closely with the lodging, airline and destination services partners to ensure travelers have access to the best travel selection.

Eligible destinations interested in participating may contact Expedia Media Solutions at [email protected] to inquire.

About Expedia Media Solutions

Formed in 2007, Expedia Media Solutions is dedicated to building online and offline media partnerships for travel and non-travel brand advertisers and to enable them to leverage the unique media value of Expedia's network of leading travel brands and global points of sale. For more information, visit www.expedia.com/mediasolutions

About Expedia, Inc.

Expedia, Inc. is the leading online travel company in the world. Since launching in 1996, the company's Expedia.com brand has grown to become the world's single most popular online travel booking site, generating more leisure travel bookings than any other travel agency - online or offline.  Worldwide, the Expedia, Inc. family of brands today includes 20 Expedia.com sites; more than 75 Hotels.com sites; leading agency hotel company Venere.com™; leading U.S. discount travel site Hotwire®; Egencia™, the world's fifth largest corporate travel management company; the world's largest travel community TripAdvisor® Media Network; destination activities provider ExpediaLocalExpert®; luxury travel specialist Classic Vacations®; and China's second largest booking site eLong™. With more people booking travel online in Expedia, Inc's global marketplace than anywhere else, the company delivers consumers value in leisure and business travel, drives incremental demand and direct bookings to travel suppliers, and provides advertisers vast opportunity to reach the most valuable audience of in-market travel consumers anywhere through Expedia Media Solutions. Expedia also powers bookings for some of the world's leading airlines and hotels, top consumer brands, high traffic websites, and thousands of active affiliates through Expedia® Affiliate Network.  (Nasdaq: EXPE)

Expedia, Expedia Media Solutions Expedia.com and the Airplane logo  are either a registered trademarks or trademarks of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Hotels.com is either a registered trademark or trademark of Hotels.com, LP.  Other logos or product and company names mentioned herein may be the property of their respective.

© 2010 Expedia, Inc.  All rights reserved.  CST: 2029030-50

SOURCE Expedia, Inc.