Following the crowd of the young online travel startups that are pushing community-based features, Yahoo is adding some more social functions to its Yahoo Travel site. While Yahoo launched Trip Planner late last year, looking to create a community around travel, the company has added the ability to share journals and check out other traveller’s trips on a tagged map. Yahoo has been adding more social features to many of its sites, including an upgrade of social-book marking My Web this weekend.
Yahoo Travel was already the 6th most visited online travel site in the U.S. in April says comScore Media Metrix, but it is increasingly competing with young startups that have the travel-based social-networking, blogging, and community-features down pat. Though, not the users yet.
Last month Gusto’s social networking-style travel site raised $4 million from investor William Darr, while blogging-based travel site Real Travel raised $1 million from private investors last November. Blog-based hotel review site Travel Post raised $1 million last July.
While VC’s are getting their check books out for community-based online travel, they shouldn’t expect Yahoo to be buyer. Of course, there are all those old school travel sites….
