Royal Wedding Gives Boost to UK Tourism: Priceline.com Reports That London is Among the Top Destinations for American Tourists Over Upcoming Memorial Day 2011 Holiday

NORWALK, Connecticut, May 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- London's calling and the Yanks are coming. After drawing record TV viewership in the States, the Royal Wedding also appears to have sparked strong American interest in visiting the UK this summer. In its 9th annual survey of the top 50 most popular destinations for the upcoming Memorial Day holiday (May 30th), priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN) found that various parts of London made the list three times. Westminster was the 8th most popular destination, followed by Mayfair/Soho at #39 and Hammersmith at #42. No UK city made priceline.com's Memorial Day list last year

Priceline.com's Memorial Day Top 50 list is based on domestic and international hotel room booking requests made by priceline.com Name Your Own Price(R) hotel service customers in the U.S. for the upcoming holiday period. Because the survey is based on actual hotel room booking requests, and not on consumer preference polls or votes, priceline.com believes its annual survey is one of the more accurate predictors of holiday travel trends.

Rome also made this year's list at #20 and Barcelona's La Rambla came in at #35. "The PR impact of the widely watched Royal Wedding isn't fading and could be a big boost to UK tourism this summer," said Priceline.com Travel Ekspert Brian Ek. "Americans want to experience London and see where the event took place." Canada also is popular with Americans for the upcoming holiday. On the Memorial Day list, Ottawa was #12, St. Catharines, ON, was #16, Downtown Toronto was #18 and Vancouver was #46.

Americans are finding attractively priced vacation packages to London. Packages including round-trip airfare from New York City to London and 6 nights' accommodations at the 4-star Millennium Bailey's Kensington Hotel were available on Priceline http://www.priceline.com/vacationpackages/ for as little as $1,329 per person, including all taxes and fees.

About The Priceline Group of Companies

The Priceline Group of Companies (Nasdaq: PCLN) is a leader in global online hotel reservations, with over 170,000 participating hotels worldwide. The Group is composed of four primary brands - Booking.com, priceline.com, Agoda.com and TravelJigsaw - and several ancillary brands. The Priceline Group provides online travel services in Europe, North America, South America, the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and Africa.

Booking.com http://booking.com is a leading international online hotel reservation service operating in 101 countries in 41 languages. Booking.com offers its customers access to over 135,000 participating hotels worldwide. In the U.S., priceline.com http://www.priceline.com gives leisure travelers multiple ways to save on their airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, vacation packages and cruises. Agoda.com http://www.agoda.com is an Asia-based online hotel reservation service that offers hotel rooms around the world and is available in 32 languages. TravelJigsaw http://www.traveljigsaw.com is a multinational car hire service, offering its reservation services in more than 4,000 locations in 115 countries. Customer support is provided in 27 languages.

The Priceline Top 50 Destinations List for Memorial Day 2011

    
    #1 Chicago, North Michigan Avenue/River North Area
    #2 Seattle, Downtown/Pike Place
    #3 Las Vegas, Strip North
    #4 New York City, Midtown West
    #5 Chicago, Millennium Park, Loop & Grant Park Area
    #6 Las Vegas, Strip Vicinity South
    #7 Providence, Downtown
    #8 London, Westminster
    #9 San Diego, Downtown & Harbor Island
    #10 New Orleans, French Quarter
    #11 Miami, Downtown
    #12 Ottawa
    #13 Savannah, Historic District and Waterfront
    #14 New York City, Times Square/Theater District
    #15 Austin, Downtown
    #16 St. Catharines, ON, Niagara Falls
    #17 New York City, Upper East Side
    #18 Toronto, Downtown Toronto South Area
    #19 Las Vegas, Fremont Street Vicinity
    #20 Rome, Central City
    #21 San Francisco, Fisherman's Wharf
    #22 Boston, Quincy Market/Faneuil Hall/Financial District
    #23 Seattle, Seattle Center/Space Needle
    #24 Indianapolis, Downtown
    #25 Boston, Copley Square/Theater District
    #26 Buffalo, Niagara Falls
    #27 Monterey
    #28 Baltimore, Inner Harbor/Downtown
    #29 Atlantic City
    #30 New York City, Midtown East
    #31 Boston, Waterfront/Convention Center
    #32 Los Angeles, Santa Monica & Marina Del Rey
    #33 New York City, Downtown/Soho/Financial District
    #34 Key West
    #35 Barcelona, La Rambla/La Barceloneta
    #36 Los Angeles, Airport Area
    #37 Jacksonville, Downtown
    #38 Asheville NC, Downtown/Biltmore Estates
    #39 London, Mayfair/Soho
    #40 San Juan PR
    #41 Nashville, Downtown/Vanderbilt/Metro Center
    #42 London, Hammersmith
    #43 Napa, Sonoma
    #44 Buffalo, Airport Area
    #45 Seattle, Airport Area
    #46 Vancouver, Downtown
    #47 Miami, South Beach/Central
    #48 Virginia Beach
    #49 San Antonio, Riverwalk Area
    #50 Las Vegas, Las Vegas Strip West