Filed by Preview Travel, Inc.
Pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act of 1933
Subject Company: Preview Travel, Inc.
Commission Filed No. 000-23177
PREVIEW TRAVEL REPORTS 1000 PERCENT INCREASE
IN CRUISE BOOKINGS
Great Cruise Values and Enhanced Offerings Result in Stellar
Year-Over-Year Growth
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - March 3, 2000 - Preview Travel, Inc. (NASDAQ: PTVL)
announced today that cruise bookings increased by more than one thousand
percent from January 1999 - January 2000. Preview Travel began selling
cruises in July of 1998. The growth in the company's sales and revenue from
cruise bookings was a direct result of strong supplier relationships, a
dramatic increase of cruise departures offered online, aggressive value-
oriented pricing, and effectively promoting special offers to its large
customer base.
Cruise bookings on Preview Travel in January and February 2000 have already
surpassed total cruise bookings for all of 1999. Preview Travel offers
cruises from leading suppliers including Norwegian Cruise Line, Royal
Caribbean International, Carnival Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruises, Disney
Cruise Line, Holland America Line, Renaissance Cruises and Windstar Cruises.
"Preview Travel is setting the Internet standard with our cruise offerings
and our suppliers are truly excited about the results. Most importantly,
consumers have embraced our service as the place to shop for and buy cruises
online," said Chris Clouser, president and CEO of Preview Travel.
"Preview Travel has demonstrated dramatic increases in their cruise volume
and are clearly capitalizing on the rapidly growing market of Internet travel
purchasers," said Andrew Stewart, senior vice president of sales and
marketing, Norwegian Cruise Line. "They are also taking a leading role in
growing the market with their ability to attract the first-time cruiser and
effectively and efficiently communicate with a very large number of
consumers."
In the fall of 1999, Preview Travel enhanced its cruise offerings by
increasing the number of cruise departures that are bookable online to more
than 3,200, covering more than 200 itineraries on over 80 ships from leading
suppliers, with thousands of additional itineraries and departures available
through its customer service agents. The company also launched a host of new
features making it easier to shop for and purchase cruises online. This
includes a Cruise Finder feature, which allows consumers to search for
cruises by key criteria such as destination, date of departure, length of
cruise, cruise supplier, price range and cruise departure city. Search
results enable side-by-side comparison between different itineraries from
different suppliers, an online feature unique to Preview Travel.
<PAGE>
About Preview Travel
Preview Travel, Inc. (NASDAQ: PTVL) is a leading provider of online travel
services for leisure and small-business travelers. It offers one-stop
shopping for airline tickets, vacation packages, car rentals, hotels and
cruises, as well as integrated access to travel information, merchandise,
news and world-class customer service. Preview Travel's trained travel
agents provide customer service 24 hours a day, seven days a week via a toll-
free number and email. Preview Travel has a growing community of more than
10 million registered members and 1 million customers.
The company operates its own award-winning Web site at www.previewtravel.com
and is the primary travel service on America Online at AOL keyword:
previewtravel. In addition, Preview Travel provides the primary travel
services on AOL.com, Excite, Lycos, Snap and USA Today.
On October 4, 1999, Preview Travel announced plans to merge with
Travelocity.com. The merger is subject to shareholder approval and is
expected to close on or about March 7, 2000. Additional information on the
proposed merger can be found in the company's proxy statement publicly filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
###
Investors are urged to read the proxy statement/prospectus included in the
Travelocity.com Registration Statement on Form S-4 (Reg. No. 333-95757),
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in connection with
the proposed merger because it contains information. The proxy
statement/prospectus is available free of charge on the SEC's Web site
(www.sec.gov), from Travelocity.com's Corporate Secretary, and from Preview
Travel's Office of Investor Relations. In addition, the identity of the
people who, under SEC rules, may be considered participants in the
solicitation of Preview Travel, Inc. stockholders in connection with the
proposed merger, and a description of their interests, is available in the
proxy statement/prospectus.
Media Contact:
Scott Radcliffe
Preview Travel, Inc.
415-430-1370
[email protected]
-2-
