Yahoo! Travel Launches Specials Area; Yahoo! Signs Agreements With Leading Air, Car, Hotel and Cruise Suppliers to Provide Bargains to Users

Yahoo! makes planning affordable getaways even easier with the launch of the Yahoo! Travel Specials center, featuring travel bargains from leading providers, including Auto Europe, Dollar Rent A Car, Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Reservation Network, Renaissance Cruises, The Travel Company, and UNIGLOBE Travel Online. Airfare deals provided by American Airlines will also be available soon.

The new Specials center allows users to browse from a comprehensive selection of current travel offers, ranging from discounted nightly rates on hotel rooms and reduced roundtrip airfares to specially-priced cruises. This Specials area can be accessed from the front page of Yahoo! Travel.

"Providing our users with an easy and convenient way to plan economical trips is a high priority for us, and the Yahoo! Travel Specials center is an example of this commitment to our users. We have signed up a very impressive group of specials providers to ensure that Yahoo! Travel users are exposed to some of the best travel deals available on the Internet," said Susan Briggs, senior producer of Yahoo! Travel.

Something for Everyone on Yahoo! Travel

This new area on Yahoo! Travel is an excellent, one-stop resource for consumers featuring a broad selection of choices from several leading travel suppliers. Consumers can make their travel decisions based upon destination, supplier, or price range. For people looking to relax on the high seas, Renaissance Cruises, The Travel Company, and UNIGLOBE Travel Online offer a wide range of reasonably priced cruises, including an 11-day Greek Isles tour, a Southern Caribbean 10-night cruise, or a four-day cruise to Mexico.

Individuals who want to escape from town can browse a variety of inexpensive hotel packages provided by Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts and Hotel Reservation Network, one of the Internet's leading providers of discount hotel accommodations. Rental car deals will be provided by Auto Europe and Dollar Rent A Car, and users can also find airfare specials provided by The Travel Company, a leading distributor of travel products, including domestic and international airline tickets and worldwide cruises. In addition, Yahoo! Travel users will soon have access to American Airlines NetSAAver Fares.

Travel Season in Full Swing

A growing number of online consumers are using the Internet to research, plan, and book their travel reservations. In fact, the National Travel Survey recently reported that 6.7 million American adults used the Internet or an online service to make travel reservations in 1998, up from 5.4 million in 1997.

According to the Travel Industry Association of America, 23 percent of U.S. travelers (34.6 million) plan to travel more this spring than they did last spring (April 1999). So, with the busy travel season in full swing, the Yahoo! Travel Specials area is a valuable resource for travelers planning to take a vacation or pleasure trip.

About Yahoo! Travel

Yahoo! Travel is a comprehensive resource for researching and planning recreational and business travel. Yahoo! Travel brings some of the best providers of travel services together all in one place, so that users can find what they need for arranging trips, including online reservations of flights, rental cars, and hotel rooms, vacation package and cruise listings, guidebook information, feature articles, weather condition information, safety tips, and currency converters.

In addition, Yahoo! Travel provides users the ability to connect with other travelers through its extensive online community. Users are encouraged to share their own travel experiences with other travelers through live chats and online message posts to the Yahoo