Yahoo! launches Trip Planner in the UK

Yahoo! has launched its successful social networking tool on its travel channel in the UK and Ireland, 20 months after the full launch in North America.

Trip Planner enables registered users to build and exchange travel ideas, create journals, add their travels to the interactive map, upload photos as well as review destinations and hotels. This is a much anticipated new product, inline with other competition in this media arena including www.wayn.com, www.facebook.com and www.tripadvisor.com.

These online innovations are helping the customer become more informed about their travel plans and at the same time create a social network to exchange ideas.

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.icious, 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."

For more information visit www.yahoo.co.uk/trip-planner.