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News Digital Media partners with Bezurk.com to provide online travel search service

News Digital Media integrates Bezurk’s travel engine on NEWS.com.au

Sydney, March 21st, 2007 - News Digital Media, the digital division of News Limited, today announced a partnership with the Asia-Pacific Travel Search engine, Bezurk.com to launch a new travel search engine service on NEWS.com.au’s travel section (www.news.com.au/travel).

Under the agreement, Bezurk.com will give NEWS.com.au readers the opportunity to search and compare the websites of airlines, travel agents, hotel chains and accommodation websites quickly at one easy-to-use location.

“We are delighted to be partnering with Bezurk.com and providing our readers with the ability to find the best deals across multiple airline and hotel websites at one time,” said group publisher for the media division of News Digital Media, Sigrid Kirk.

“We are constantly enhancing and extending our offering. By integrating the travel search engine with the comprehensive travel content available at NEWS.com.au, we are delivering readers with everything they need to save time and money when planning travel.”

Today’s announcement comes as the travel section of NEWS.com.au reports more than a 110% growth in audience over the past 12 months.*

“News Digital Media is one of Australia’s leading digital businesses whose brands impact the daily lives of a rapidly growing number of everyday Australians,” said chief marketing officer for Bezurk.com, Craig Hewett. “We’re thrilled to be partnering with a media company like News Digital Media to integrate their comprehensive travel editorial content with our flight and hotel search service on NEWS.com.au.”

The travel search engine available at www.news.com.au/travel gives users the ability to:

  • Search for domestic and international flights and airfares
  • Compare prices from dozens of merchants, including both online travel agencies and airline websites on the same screen
  • Sort by search results by price, departure time, arrival time or flight duration
  • Sort accommodation search results by price, brand or star rating
  • Filter search accommodation results by price range, star rating, hotel chain or brand, amenities (eg. broadband internet), property type, booking partner
  • Compare prices for domestic and trans-tasman flights inclusive of all airport charges, taxes, fuel surcharges and credit card fees
  • Search availability and room rates at 100,000+ hotels, hostels and B&Bs worldwide
  • Compare prices on offer from dozens of accommodation websites

Bezurk.com utilises cutting edge Ajax technology, a web development technique for creating interactive web applications that make sorting, filtering and comparing travel products effortless for the end user. The technology also allows a user to start reviewing initial search results while subsequent results are being streamed to the browser.

About News Digital Media (www.newsdigitalmedia.com.au):

News Digital Media, the digital arm of News Limited, is a dynamic new media company. News Digital Media oversees the business operations of digital properties, NEWS.com.au, FOXSPORTS.com.au, truelocal.com.au, CareerOne.com.au, CARSguide.com.au, in2mobi, Moshtix, along with partly-owned realestate.com.au and related activities involving News Limited newspapers, and the Australian versions of Fox Interactive Media sites myspace.com and IGN.com. News Digital Media has a diverse audience base that enables advertisers to hit many target markets

About NEWS.com.au (www.news.com.au):

NEWS.com.au is the flagship brand for News Limited’s online arm, News Digital Media. Committed to offering the latest news across entertainment, business, sports and travel, NEWS.com.au is unmatched in the depth and breadth of news it provides users. NEWS.com.au not only provides a daily news source but also delivers rich and detailed media coverage reports, along with a variety of blogs and user generated forums. With Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and content led emails, NEWS.com.au gives users the opportunity to tailer their news so it suits their personal needs. NEWS.com.au is also a gateway to News Limited’s major metropolitan newspapers, including: The Australian, The Daily Telegraph, The Courier Mail, Herald Sun, The Advertiser and Sunday Times.

About Bezurk (www.bezurk.com)

Bezurk.com is a comparison-shopping web site that helps travellers from the Asia-Pacific region search for flights, hotels across a multitude of travel websites. Bezurk searches suppliers like the airlines and hotel chains directly but also includes hotel aggregators and online travel agents. Searching is done in real-time so that results show only the latest pricing and availability. Bezurk links travellers directly through to our partners websites to book. Bezurk, which is headquartered in Singapore, was founded in 2005 by former executives from Intercontinental Hotels Group, Yahoo! and ZUJI. For more information, please visit www.bezurk.com.

*Source Nielsen Net Ratings, Market Intelligence, Travel Domestic Category.

For more information, please contact:

Kate McQuestin
News Digital Media
(02) 9288 7552
0419 591 150
kate.mcquestin@newsdigitalmedia.com.au

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