Expedia, Inc. shared new data showing an increase of more than 500% in the number of bookings made to Gambia hotels on the more than 90 Expedia and Hotels.com travel booking sites so far this year. The majority of these bookings are coming from travelers in the U.K., the U.S., and the Netherlands.

Expedia first began working with hotels in Gambia in April of 2010. Since then, the number of Gambia hotels that have signed up to work with the online travel company has grown 170%, and Expedia expects that number will continue to grow as more local hotels learn about the benefits of becoming a part of Expedia’s global online travel marketplace. When a hotel partners with Expedia, they gain access to the more than 50 million travel shoppers that visit Expedia and Hotels.com sites in more than 60 countries worldwide each month. Expedia today partners with more than 130,000 hotels across the globe, and handles more hotel bookings than any other travel agency in the world.

“We’re very excited to give hotels in Gambia the opportunity to expand their business by offering their properties on Expedia’s global travel sites, allowing them to attract millions of travelers they otherwise may not have been able to reach,” said Diego Lofeudo, Director of Market Management for Expedia in Africa. “Together with our local travel partner, Gambia Tours, we have formed a local team to work with hotels to help them effectively offer their properties around the world online.” 

U.S.-based Expedia has operations throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as in Asia-Pacific, and South America. Its team includes hundreds of hotel relationship managers and revenue management specialists based in local markets to assist hotel partners in developing online distribution strategies. Members of Expedia’s local hotel relationship team, in collaboration with the Gambia Hotel Association, are hosting an educational e-commerce seminar at the Kairaba Beach Hotel on Wednesday, April 27th at 10am. Nearly 70 members of the Gambia hospitality community are expected to attend the event, where Expedia will present hoteliers with tips for offering their property online.