NEWTON, Mass., Dec. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/
-- TripAdvisor®, the world's largest
travel site*, and Kiva, the world's first microlending platform,
have launched a unique new partnership connecting travelers from
the TripAdvisor community with Kiva borrowers in countries the
travelers have visited.
To view the multimedia assets associated with this release,
please click:
http://www.multivu.com/mnr/57940-tripadvisor-and-kiva-launch-partnership
(Logo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121204/MM22229LOGO)
Kiva is a nonprofit organization working to alleviate poverty
around the world by connecting people through microlending.
Thousands of borrowers in 66 countries are listed on Kiva, such as
a farmer in Peru, a fisherman in
Indonesia, or a seamstress in
Cambodia. Lenders read about
borrowers on Kiva.org and choose which ones to support with a loan
of $25 or more. Even a small loan can
create new opportunities for loan recipients, their families, and
their communities.
The TripAdvisor/Kiva partnership reaches travelers who have been
to one of these countries and written a review for that trip on
TripAdvisor. TripAdvisor then invites these travelers to choose a
borrower in the country they visited to receive a $25 microloan on Kiva.org. The loans are entirely
funded through a $250,000
contribution from TripAdvisor and come at no cost to the traveler.
This marks the first time Kiva has worked with a company offering
microloans to its customers in the countries where they have just
been. Only those traveler who have written reviews in countries
served by Kiva will be invited to make a TripAdvisor $25 microloan.
"We're thrilled to work with Kiva and support such a
worthy cause," commented Barbara
Messing, chief marketing officer, TripAdvisor. "We're also
delighted to be able to provide our community with a way of giving
back to the communities they traveled to, where even a single
relatively small loan can make a life changing difference."
"This partnership combines the power of TripAdvisor's
crowdsourcing and Kiva's crowd funding to make meaningful change in
the world," said Premal Shah,
President of Kiva. "As global citizens none of us are visitors, we
are all connected. Nothing makes this more clear than when we
travel. Through this partnership, the affinity you develop for the
people and places you visit can continue when you return home. In
most places in the world, often only a relatively small amount of
money stands between a person and their dream to start or expand
their shop, send their children to school, or bring solar light and
clean water into their homes."
How the Kiva and TripAdvisor partnership works:
- When a traveler reviews a hotel, vacation rental, restaurant or
attraction in a Kiva-supported country on one of TripAdvisor's
English-language sites (US, UK, Canada, Ireland, and Australia), that reviewer is eligible to make
a $25 microloan to a recipient in
that country. This microloan is funded by TripAdvisor.
- After submitting a review for an eligible country, the user
will receive an email from TripAdvisor with information about the
microloan. This email directs the reviewer to Kiva.org, where
the $25 microloan gift from
TripAdvisor can be applied. Microloan gifts will only be offered
for the user's first review of each eligible country.
- The reviewer can see personal and business details of potential
borrowers in that country. The reviewer selects a borrower
and Kiva then facilitates the loan.
- Funds contributed by TripAdvisor will be lent and relent for
one year by TripAdivsor travelers. After that year, 100 percent of
the repayments will be donated by TripAdvisor to Kiva. The average
repayment rate of loans facilitated on Kiva.org is 99 percent.
For more information on Kiva, go to www.Kiva.org. For more
information on TripAdvisor, go to www.TripAdvisor.com.
About Kiva
Kiva is a non-profit organization working to alleviate poverty
by connecting people around the world through microlending. With as
little as a $25 loan, anyone can help
a borrower create new opportunities for themselves and their
family. Together with more than 850,000 Kiva lenders and a
worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva has created
economic opportunity for more than 900,000 borrowers. Since its
inception in 2005, Kiva lenders have funded more than $375 million in loans with a 99% repayment
rate. Kiva is headquartered in San
Francisco. www.kiva.org
About TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor® is the world's largest travel site,* enabling
travelers to plan and have the perfect trip. TripAdvisor offers
trusted advice from real travelers and a wide variety of travel
choices and planning features with seamless links to booking tools.
TripAdvisor branded sites make up the largest travel community in
the world, with more than 60 million unique monthly visitors*, and
over 75 million reviews and opinions. The sites operate in 30
countries worldwide, including China under daodao.com. TripAdvisor also
includes TripAdvisor for Business, a dedicated division that
provides the tourism industry access to millions of monthly
TripAdvisor visitors.
TripAdvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) manages and operates websites
under 19 other travel media brands, and together the sites attract
more than 74 million unique monthly visitors.** TripAdvisor, Inc.'s
travel media brands include www.airfarewatchdog.com,
www.bookingbuddy.com, www.cruisecritic.com,
www.everytrail.com, www.familyvacationcritic.com, www.flipkey.com,
www.holidaylettings.co.uk, www.holidaywatchdog.com,
www.independenttraveler.com, www.onetime.com, www.seatguru.com,
www.sniqueaway.com, www.smartertravel.com, www.tingo.com,
www.travel-library.com, www.travelpod.com, www.virtualtourist.com,
www.whereivebeen.com, and www.kuxun.cn.
*Source: comScore Media Metrix for TripAdvisor Sites, Worldwide,
July 2012
**Source: comScore Media Metrix for TripAdvisor, Inc. and its
subsidiaries, Worldwide, July
2012
©2012 TripAdvisor, Inc. All rights reserved.
SOURCE TripAdvisor