Online video giant makes first foray into travel

(2010 YouTube, LLC)

YouTube, the world's largest online video site, launched a travel channel September 8, creating a new destination for travelers to share destination ideas.

YouTube Vacationer describes itself as "Vacation inspiration from the well traveled" and represents YouTube's first foray into the world of travel.

The primary feature of the site is "Vacation You," an app sponsored by Norwegian Cruise Line that allows visitors to the site to create their own 60 - 90 second ideal vacation video using a number of clips from different sports or vacation activities.

Maria Miller from Norwegian Cruise Line said that the partnership with YouTube gave "visitors the opportunity to experience our brand and all the options that Freestyle Cruising offers."

Fortunately, the channel isn't just restricted for those that love cruises - it utilizes content from big name partners such as Lonely Planet, National Geographic and the Travel Channel to provide extra advice and inspiration.

Other partners on the site include eHow, Howcast, Concierge.com and Dan Traveling.

"The YouTube Vacationer channel brings the best of our partners' travel videos into a single destination to help users explore, plan and dream about their next vacations, and it gives users a way to see themselves in a customized vacation video with Norwegian's 'Vacation You' application," said YouTube's Mark Day.

Not all visitors, however, were unequivocally impressed - tech blog ZDNet described the Vacation You function as "a bit lackluster" and travel blog Tnooz pointed out that "the placement of some of the videos is a bit off, with kinks needing to be worked out."

http://www.youtube.com/vacationer