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The Summer of Our Discount Tent Ask.com and ReserveAmerica Report Surge in Camping Trends asConsumers Look to Stretch Their Dollars This Summer

OAKLAND, Calif., July 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Americans are planning asummer full of credit crunch camping -- with families opting toditch expensive hotels and exotic destinations as gas pricescontinue to soar.

With just a little over a month left before kids all across Americahead back to school, popular search engine Ask.com is experiencinga surge of questions related to camping vacations, campsites andcamping equipment. Ask.com has approximately 32 million uniquemonthly U.S. visitors (comScore, May 2008).

Search terms including "camping vacations," "best family campsites"and "cheap tents" have more than doubled in the past 30 days.Additionally, the queries "How to build a campfire," "roastinghotdogs" and "how to make s'mores" have also doubled in the sametime period.

"Search engines are great social barometers, and this year it's acase of thrift spending as Americans choose camping overpampering," said Andi Riggs, Vice President and Search TrendsExpert at Ask.com. "Usually at this time of year we see a huge jumpin queries for vacation packages of all kinds, but this year therehas been a phenomenal spike in interest in cheap tents... and alsowhere to pitch them," says Riggs.

According to a recent poll conducted by ReserveAmerica, the UnitedStates' leading recreation reservation service, 16% of those polledchose camping solely because of the cost savings versus a typicalfamily vacation. Thirty percent chose camping because of high gasprices, and 30% said they are camping closer to home this year.*

"Our advanced online reservations for campgrounds are up 8% thissummer as compared to last, and the biggest trend we're seeing ispeople looking for parks and camping options within 100 miles oftheir home," said John McDonald, VP of Marketing & BusinessDevelopment for ReserveAmerica, which is used by more than 17million campers to research and plan trips each year.

Among travel-related searches on Ask.com, "theme park ticketdiscounts" and "cheap flights" tie for #1 in July, replacing thetraditional top query, "last minute vacation packages," which fellto #5.

One thing remains certain: wherever Americans may be headed thissummer, rising gas costs are sure to take a toll on the budget. Tofind the best gas prices close to home and on the road, Ask.comvisitors who enter the search term "cheap gas" and then enter theirzip code into the Smart Answer module presented at the top of theresults page can find the cheapest gas deals (1).

About Ask.com

Ask.com, a wholly-owned business of IAC NASDAQ: IACI, is one of theleading general search engines on the Internet. The Ask network ofsites has more than 127 million worldwide unique monthly users,according to May 2008 comScore data. Ask.com syndicates its searchtechnology and advertising solutions to a network of affiliatepartners.

About ReserveAmerica

ReserveAmerica is North America's leading camping reservation andcampground management solutions provider. ReserveAmericaspecializes in complete reservations solutions, stand-alone callcenter/database management tools, online reservations solutions andpark software solutions. The Company manages the largest reservablecampsite inventory with partnerships throughout North America.ReserveAmerica is an operating business of IAC NASDAQ: IACI.

* Culled from 2,000 responses to a poll of ReserveAmericacustomers, conducted summer 2008.

(1) Pricing data is obtained from 3rd party sources. Ask.com makesno representations, warranties and/or covenants as to the accuracy,timeliness, coverage, and/or completeness of such data. Website: http://www.ask.com/