NEW YORK, February 8, 2000 - GORP (a.k.a. Great Outdoor Recreation Pages), the leading Internet site for outdoor enthusiasts and adventure travelers, today has launched an integrated booking service for adventure and experiential travel. This full-service operation provides access to an unparalleled resource of more than 24,000 trips and augments the company's comprehensive offering of outdoor content and gear, making it the leading one-stop resource for all adventure travel enthusiasts.

The new travel functionality, accessible from GORP's homepage, allows customers to research and book trips with minimal effort. Consumers have the ability to search by a variety of travel criteria, including cost, destination and desired activity -- whether that is hiking, skiing, scuba diving, whitewater rafting, biking or trekking through remote countryside.

"GORP.com already is the number one Web site for outdoor recreation, offering unsurpassed content and the widest selection of quality adventures," said Jon Guttenberg, CEO of GORP. "Adding travel expands the product mix and inspires people with new ideas and new resources otherwise unavailable to them. People can now read about a destination and activity, ask our experts for advice, find other people who have taken the trips and then book their adventure -- all in one place."

A staff of experienced travel consultants is available to guide travelers through the process, from selecting the right trip, booking the reservation with the outfitter, hotel and airline to insuring clients have the right gear and equipment for the trip. The GORPtravel call center, located in Colorado, is staffed by adventure enthusiasts and travel professionals who offer first-hand insights into the adventure travel experience.

According to Forrester Research, 19-million families looked for travel information on the Web last year, but only five million booked their travel online, largely because the large travel agency sites lack an ability to provide the personal assistance travelers desire. However, with GORPtravel's full-service customer call center, vacationers get the one-on-one attention that works best for them.

There are a number of options available to consumers to find answers to questions. Clients have the option of calling a travel consultant on a toll-free number or sending an email to request a consultation at a particular time. In the next several weeks, the site also will offer enthusiasts the option of chatting with a travel consultant online. Travel consultants will be able to guide clients through the site to help clients navigate through the vast array of vacation options available.

According to the Travel Industry Association of America, adventure travel is the fastest growing segment of the $425-billion leisure travel market. Currently, with more than half of all U.S. adult citizens (98 million) participating, the outdoor and adventure traveler market has grown to more than $29 billion. The industry has achieved this size without the benefit of an efficient infrastructure to match outdoor enthusiasts with the right experiences, adventure tour companies and others with similar tastes. GORP, already known for its robust outdoor content and community, puts that infrastructure in place with the addition of the travel and gear e-commerce components.

GORP, cited by Yahoo!, US News & World Report, the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times as the leader in this category, is well positioned to enhance its strong market position. In fact, in an independent and unaided survey, adventure tour operators overwhelmingly chose GORP as their top choice for booking adventure travel. The acquisition late last year of American Wilderness Experience (A.W.E.), long recognized in the travel industry for its 30-year history of providing top-quality adventure trips, expanded GORP's existing travel component and added a complete booking function and customer service capability.

"GORP.COM was founded on a simple principal that people have the same basic need for fresh air, the unparalleled peace that quiet brings and the exhilaration of exploration -- whether its a wilderness trek or just trying something new," said Bill Greer, GORP's co-founder. "GORPtravel's functionality underscores our continued commitment to helping individuals pursue an active outdoor lifestyle.

"We are committed to building on our leadership in content," said Greer. "Complementing our adventure travel commerce component will be editorial contributions from Rob Sangster, renowned travel expert and author of Traveler's Tool Kit: How to Travel Absolutely Anywhere. Rob will be launching a series focused on helping people learn the ins and outs of travel and inspiring them with great destinations." Sangster will be added to a list of GORP experts specializing in a variety of outdoor activities including hiking, fishing, biking and gear.

GORP (a.k.a. Great Outdoor Recreation Pages) delivers a complete package of authoritative, award-winning content, a huge community of adventure travelers and e-commerce features, drawing more than 100 million page views per year. Outdoor enthusiasts and world travelers Bill and Diane Greer founded GORP in 1995. Tapping their own experiences, they created a web site (www.GORP.com) that offers a complete travel solution and inspires participation in everything from an afternoon hike to an extended biking adventure. The site brings together outdoor enthusiasts with experts to recount their own experiences and share information through a sophisticated menu of online forums, contests and discussions.

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