Rough Guides announces travel content agreement with America Online
    Rough Guides’ In-depth information on more than 16,000 destinations
                        worldwide
      to be featured within travel channels across AOL, AOL.COM,
              CompuServe and Netscape Netcenter

New York, NY—September 20, 2000—Rough Guides, publishers of more than 130
critically acclaimed travel guides, today announced an agreement with
America Online Inc. (NYSE: AOL), the world’s leading interactive services
company, to provide extensive editorial content to AOL’s popular Travel
Channel, and to several America Online, Inc. brands, including AOL.COM,
CompuServe and Netscape Netcenter.

Under the agreement, visitors to AOL’s Travel Channel (AOL Keyword: Travel)
will now have access to Rough Guides’ unique, opinionated information about
more than 16,000 destinations around the globe.  AOL members will also have
the ability to browse through the entire contents of Rough Guides’
award-winning books online for insider travel advice.

From Al-Wad Road to Zaragoza and everything in between, Rough Guides
provides users with convenient online access to information on thousands of
travel destinations.  Rough Guides makes it easy to plan itineraries, with
points of interest, historic landmarks, museums, and “off the beaten path”
escapes.  Once a destination has been selected, a user can easily navigate
sights and points of interest within the location, as well as surrounding
neighborhoods. Additional content includes:

á  Basics?This information provides users with a wealth of knowledge to
answer the kinds of questions that arise prior to traveling.
á  Best of Rough Guide authors have carefully selected their favorite
sights and can’t-miss experiences for popular destinations.
á  Eating, Accommodation, Entertainment?These sections list recommended
local dining, lodging, and entertainment for all destinations and budgets.

Rough Guides is a leading supplier of world-class travel destination
information to the Web’s foremost e-commerce, travel, technology, and
marketing companies.  Rough Guides is able to supply information in this
way through its partnership with Learning Network, the Internet’s premier
education source. Learning Network’s Content Licensing Group is responsible
for the acquisition and distribution of traditional media assets to digital
businesses and consumers.

“This content agreement with AOL marks a major milestone for Rough Guides’
online distribution strategy,” said Jennifer Gold, Director of New Media,
Rough Guides. “With America Online’s ever-expanding presence and more than
24 million members, our progressive and innovative content will be
available to a greater audience than ever before.”

Rough Guides is recognized for its hip, irreverent travel guides, written
with an eye for detail and a voracious appetite for off-the-beaten-path
adventure.  From a single Greece guide published by four friends in 1982,
Rough Guides has grown to more than 150 titles, including 100 travel
guides, unique language phrasebooks, acclaimed music reference guides,
eclectic world music CDs, and a best-selling pocket Internet guide.  The
company is also known around the world through its BBC/Travel Channel
television series, Rough Guides.

In 1998, Rough Guides launched an interactive travel planning resource on
the Internet (http://travel.roughguides.com) where independent travelers
can go to learn about destinations, join an online community of travelers,
find Rough Guides books and relevant travel products and book reservations.
In all of its ventures, Rough Guides focuses on providing extensive
cultural background and the most reliable, up-to-date, and entertaining
information for destinations around the world to independent travelers of
all ages, on all budgets. Rough Guides’ content will also be featured on
Learning Network (www.LearningNetwork.com), the Internet’s premiere
education source.

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