Bloggers and Social Media the Latest Marketing Tools for Travel

January 05, 2012

Expedia (NASDAQ:EXPE) recently treated a group of bloggers to lunch and later that day to a Seahawk’s football game from their corporate suite in hopes of gaining their favor. The online travel agency believes that bloggers play a large part in communicating with travelers and was interested in developing relationships with them.

Bloomberg Businessweek quoted Joe Megibow, vice-president of Expedia U.S., who said, “If our goal is to get closer to travelers… bloggers are a very interesting place to us.” Although the company won’t be adding any bloggers to its payroll, the company would likely be interested in featuring videos and content from well-known and influential bloggers on their site without influencing their material. Sarah Keeling, Expedia’s public relations executive told Bloomberg Businessweek that the company sees bloggers as untapped resources in an industry that frequently relies on newspapers, magazines and public relations firms.

Another new trend in the travel industry is to utilize social media. Start-ups such as Trippy, Gogobot, Gtrot and FlyMuch are all hoping to utilize Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and the like to share information and advertise trips. The thought process is that people will be more comfortable staying somewhere that a friend has already been to. The travel industry is hoping to turn your friend’s vacation photos into advertisement tools to attract new visitors and fresh business.

Here’s how internet travel stocks are trading to start 2012:

Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE): EXPE shares recently traded at $28.33, down $0.7, or 2.41%. They have traded in a 52-week range of $27.28 to $65.78. Volume today was 944,711 shares versus a 3-month average volume of 2,287,910 shares.

priceline.com Incorporated (NASDAQ:PCLN): PCLN shares recently traded at $475.99, down $4.92, or 1.02%. They have traded in a 52-week range of $411.26 to $561.88. Volume today was 143,829 shares versus a 3-month average volume of 1,136,620 shares. The company’s trailing P/E is 25.21, while trailing earnings are $18.88 per share.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG): GOOG shares recently traded at $660.10, down $8.18, or 1.22%. They have traded in a 52-week range of $473.02 to $670.25. Volume today was 1,144,487 shares versus a 3-month average volume of 3,023,350 shares. The company’s trailing P/E is 22.50, while trailing earnings are $29.34 per share.

Ctrip.com International Ltd. (NASDAQ:CTRP): CTRP shares recently traded at $23.47, down $0.62, or 2.57%. They have traded in a 52-week range of $22.33 to $50.57. Volume today was 460,305 shares versus a 3-month average volume of 2,836,920 shares. The company’s trailing P/E is 19.97, while trailing earnings are $1.18 per share.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ashley Cloninger at staff.writers@wallstcheatsheet.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Damien Hoffman at editors@wallstcheatsheet.com