Expedia Media Solutions Announces Marketing Campaign Support for Regions Affected By Hurricane Sandy

BELLEVUE, Wash., Jan. 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Expedia® Media Solutions, the advertising sales division of global online travel leader Expedia, Inc., today announced that it will offer marketing support to the destination marketing organizations (DMOs) and tourism boards of the areas affected by Hurricane Sandy.  The offering, a 3:1 media dollar match for all advertising on Expedia, Inc. websites, is designed to help the eight states and our nation's capital sustain visibility and boost tourism during the recovery period.

Over the next three months, tourism boards and organizations from Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Virginia and Washington, D.C. can work with Expedia Media Solutions to build campaigns that will maximize marketing resources and broaden their reach to targeted tourist audiences shopping on Expedia, Inc. sites. The supported advertising campaigns can run now through the end of June to give the destinations in need of tourism a way to stretch promotional dollars.

"With this program, the tourism organizations supporting the hurricane-stricken states, cities and communities have the opportunity to drive awareness and revenue to local businesses by attracting travelers to the region," said Noah Tratt, global vice president, Expedia Media Solutions. "Our goal is to ultimately alleviate some of the economic pressures that the communities are feeling, and allow them to showcase the attractions that either weren't affected or are ready to welcome tourists again."

Expedia Media Solutions extended similar offers to the states affected by the Gulf Coast oil spill in 2010, and the states hit by devastating floods and tornadoes in 2011. In both instances, tourism boards took advantage of the program and Expedia Media Solutions was able to help boost revenue in affected communities and counter negative sentiment about the region that the catastrophes created. For example, in 2010, The New Orleans Convention and Visitor's Bureau (CVB) leveraged the media match offer and launched a multifaceted campaign on Expedia.com® featuring a variety of visually striking ads. The one-month campaign doubled unaided brand awareness of New Orleans as a destination and successfully lifted New Orleans higher in travelers' consideration set, with consideration of New Orleans as a possible destination increasing from 31 percent to 41 percent.

Eligible destinations interested in leveraging the media match program should 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.advertising.expedia.com.

About Expedia, Inc.
Expedia, Inc. is the largest online travel company in the world, with an extensive brand portfolio that includes some of the world's leading online travel brands, including:

• Expedia.com®, the world's largest full service online travel agency, with localized sites in 30 countries
• Hotels.com®, the hotel specialist with sites in more than 60 countries
• Hotwire®, a leading discount travel site that offers opaque deals in nine countries on its eight sites in North America and Europe
• Egencia®, the world's fifth largest corporate travel management company
• eLong™, the second largest online travel company in China
• Venere.com®, the online hotel reservation specialist in Europe
• Expedia Local Expert®, a provider of in-market concierge services, activities and experiences in 18 markets worldwide
• Classic Vacations®, a top luxury travel specialist

The company delivers consumers value in leisure and business travel, drives incremental demand and direct bookings to travel suppliers, and provides advertisers the opportunity to reach a highly valuable audience of in-market travel consumers 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) For corporate and industry news and views, visit us at www.expediainc.com or follow us on Twitter @expediainc.

SOURCE Expedia Media Solutions