CityXpress launched GetAwayXpress, online auctions that enable newspapers and their advertisers and readers to participate in a single, large-scale travel marketplace.

GetAwayXpress will aggregate travel items from 16 U.S. newspapers in 14 markets into a common online auction site that will be promoted as a single-event auction. The auction will be conducted over a 10-day period beginning November 7. The model enables local and regional advertisers to gain expanded exposure across North America, regardless of their geographic location. Travel has consistently proven to be one of the most popular and successful categories in CityXpress' event auctions, the company said, achieving a 70 percent sell-through rate.

GetAwayXpress operates much like a single-market event auction. Participating newspapers secure travel products from local and regional suppliers. Each participating newspaper will promote the national auction in its market and publish a print catalog displaying its own offers, plus a number of pages of premium out-of-market offers. If a travel offer sells for the reserve price set by the newspaper, the supplier earns an ad credit for the full retail value.

The November GetAwayXpress is the first of a planned series of travel marketplaces to be launched over the coming year, with the next scheduled for March 2005.

The following newspapers are participating in the initial travel marketplace:
· The Philadelphia Inquirer/Philadelphia Daily News
· Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
· The Miami Herald
· Orlando Sentinel
· The Charlotte Observer
· St. Paul Pioneer Press
· Akron Beacon-Journal
· St. Louis Post-Dispatch
· The Kansas City Star
· Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
· The Arizona Republic
· The Seattle Times/Seattle Post Intelligencer
· San Jose Mercury News
· Contra Costa Times

http://www.cityxpress.com