Rising Number of Travelers Planning Vacations Closer to Home Drives Need for Better Local Online...

Business Editors/Travel Writers

NEEDHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 28, 2003

TripAdvisor Launches Only Weekend Getaway Guide

With Personalized, Zip Code Based Email Updates

With Articles, Reviews and Opinions on Local Weekend Getaways

In response

to consumers planning vacations closer to home, TripAdvisor (www.tripadvisor.com), the leading travel research site, announced today a new service to help consumers find relevant travel information on weekend getaway destinations. Unlike other weekend email newsletters that send generic information on only the top cities, TripAdvisor's Weekend Getaway Guide is the only email guide to personalize the information based on a person's specific zip code, so travelers receive a weekly email of highly relevant travel information including a wealth of articles, guidebooks, reviews and deals about various weekend trips within a 25- to 300- mile driving distance of their home.

Consumers can sign up for a weekly dose of local vacation inspiration simply by entering their zip code when subscribing to TripAdvisor's popular email newsletter. Each weekend getaway suggestion comes with related travel articles and reviews on the best attractions and hotels in the area, as well as a weather forecast and driving directions.

Instead of conducting endless Web searches and spending hours researching information on ideal weekend getaways, especially outside of major metropolitan cities, consumers can now let TripAdvisor, a search engine that finds relevant travel information on the Web, do the research for them.

For example, a person living in Princeton, NJ would receive a link with travel information on popular nearby destinations, such as Atlantic City, NJ, Newport, RI, or Lancaster, PA not just New York City: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Getaways-g46756-Princeton_New_Jersey.html. The information on Atlantic City gives travelers not only suggestions on attractions, such as The Boardwalk, but articles, guidebooks, and user comments scoured from the web specifically about The Boardwalk to help them better plan things to do on their vacation.

"With today's current events, travelers are picking destinations closer to home for their upcoming vacations," said Steve Kaufer, CEO of TripAdvisor. "We have developed a highly personalized travel guide to give consumers the comprehensive, relevant information that they need to plan a great weekend trip, based on their specific home town. TripAdvisor.com has become a one-stop destination for online travel research, and this new feature adds an important piece to vacation planning - the weekend getaway."

TripAdvisor's Weekend Getaway Guide covers weekend getaways for hundreds of cities in the United States. To sign up for TripAdvisor's TripWatch newsletter and Weekend Getaway Guide visit www.tripadvisor.com.

About TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor, Inc. provides a comprehensive travel search engine and directory that helps consumers research their travel plans via the web. With over 2.9 million unique visitors a month, TripAdvisor is the 14th most popular travel site worldwide on the web, according to ComScore Networks, and has won dozens of awards including PC Magazine's Top 100 Web Sites and Forbes Best of the Web. The company also offers travel suppliers a performance-based marketing medium that generates average click-through rates of over 10% per page. Partners include leading travel companies such as Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, and CheapTickets. TripAdvisor, Inc. is a privately held, venture-backed company based in Needham, Massachusetts. For more information, visit http://www.tripadvisor.com/.