Yahoo! has unveiled the popular Trip Planner social networking tool this week on its travel channel in the UK & Ireland. The development comes 20 months after the service was first tested as a beta in the US and a year after the full launch in North America. Trip Planner allows registered Yahoo users to…
Yahoo! launches Trip Panner in the UK
Yahoo! has unveiled the popular Trip Planner social networking tool this week on its travel channel in the UK & Ireland.
The development comes 20 months after the service was first tested as a beta in the US and a year after the full launch in North America.
Trip Planner allows registered Yahoo users to build and exchange travel ideas, upload photos, create journals, chart their travels on an interactive map and review destinations and hotels.
The system has been fully integrated with other Yahoo! products such as Flickr, Yahoo! Travel Guides and Yahoo! Maps.
The addition of Trip Planner to Yahoo!’s UK & Ireland portal comes at a crucial time as other social networks such as WAYN ramp up their functionality and travel companies develop Facebook-hosted applications.
Tim Frankcom, general manager of Yahoo! Travel & Shopping Europe, said: “Take a closer look at Yahoo! Travel and you’ll see a theme of ‘collective intelligence’ taking root across the site.
“People are no longer limited to just booking tickets online, and by incorporating interactive and social media elements, we’re creating one of the most useful and dynamic travel resources available.”
“Just as other Yahoo! social search products like Flickr, Yahoo! Answers, del.icio.us, and MyWeb have created a platform for sharing information between users, Trip Planner is about offering a way for travellers to benefit from sharing their travel experiences.”
