Online Travel Company Expedia Grows Bookings for Hotels in Africa

DURBAN, South Africa, May 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE), the world's largest online travel company, released data today showing a 27% increase in the number of travel bookings being made to Africa and the Indian Ocean regions on Expedia(R) and Hotels.com(R) travel sites worldwide over the past 12 months, with the majority of international consumer demand coming from travelers in the U.K., the U.S. and France. The number of Africa and Indian Ocean region hotels currently working with Expedia has also increased, growing well over 100% during the same period of time.

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"We're confident that recent influx of travel demand seen by our Africa hotel partners is indicative to the value Expedia extends to its supply partners throughout Africa and on a global scale," said Diego Lofeudo, Expedia Market Director for Africa. "Ultimately our goal is to bring Africa to the online travel marketplace, and online travel to Africa, and as such we're very much looking forward to further developing relationships with hotels throughout Africa and assisting them in developing more effective online distribution strategies to achieve their occupancy and revenue goals."

Today Expedia offers more than 135,000 hotels on its travel booking sites, making available those hotels on the more than 100 localized Expedia and Hotels.com online travel sites in over 60 countries across the globe. Collectively, these sites attract more than 50 million travel shoppers each month, vastly extending the global reach for a hotel far beyond what they could otherwise likely achieve on their own.

In addition to its expanding presence throughout Africa, U.S.-based Expedia also has operations in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and South America. The company also employs a global supply team comprised of hundreds of travel professions placed in local markets around the world whose focus is on developing relationships with local hoteliers and counseling those partners on creating effective strategies to drive incremental demand using the numerous merchandising and promotional opportunities Expedia offers. Expedia plans to expand this team further by establishing South Africa-based operations later this year in an effort to assist an even larger number of hotel partners throughout Africa and the Indian Ocean regions interested in extending their reach to an ever-increasing global audience of travelers.

Representatives from Expedia will be in Durban, South Africa later this week to exhibit at the fifth-annual Indaba Travel Show from May 7th-10th. Expedia and Hotels.com delegates from across the Hotel, Tour and Transport, Technology and Media lines of business will also be in attendance to meet with local travel suppliers interested in learning more about the benefits of becoming part of Expedia's global online travel marketplace.

For more information about becoming an Expedia partner, visit https://joinexpedia.com.

About Expedia, Inc.

Expedia, Inc. is the largest online travel company in the world, with an extensive brand portfolio that includes more than 100 localized Expedia.com(R)- and Hotels.com(R)-branded sites; leading U.S. discount travel site Hotwire(R); leading agency hotel company Venere.com(TM); Egencia(R), the world's fifth largest corporate travel management company; the world's largest travel community TripAdvisor(R) Media Group; destination activities provider ExpediaLocalExpert(R); luxury travel specialist Classic Vacations(R); and China's second largest booking site eLong(TM). 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 TripAdvisor Media Group and 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(R) Affiliate Network. (NASDAQ: EXPE)

Expedia is either a registered trademark or trademark of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Hotels.com is either a trademark or registered trademark of hotels.com, L.P. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other logos or product and company names mentioned herein may be the property of their respective owners. (c) 2011 Expedia, Inc. All rights reserved.