NEWTON, Mass., Dec. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- TripAdvisor^®, the world's largest travel site*, and Kiva, the world's first microlending platform, have launched a unique new partnership connecting travelers from the TripAdvisor community with Kiva borrowers in countries the travelers have visited.

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Kiva is a nonprofit organization working to alleviate poverty around the world by connecting people through microlending. Thousands of borrowers in 66 countries are listed on Kiva, such as a farmer in Peru, a fisherman in Indonesia, or a seamstress in Cambodia. Lenders read about borrowers on Kiva.org and choose which ones to support with a loan of $25 or more. Even a small loan can create new opportunities for loan recipients, their families, and their communities.

The TripAdvisor/Kiva partnership reaches travelers who have been to one of these countries and written a review for that trip on TripAdvisor. TripAdvisor then invites these travelers to choose a borrower in the country they visited to receive a $25 microloan on Kiva.org. The loans are entirely funded through a $250,000 contribution from TripAdvisor and come at no cost to the traveler. This marks the first time Kiva has worked with a company offering microloans to its customers in the countries where they have just been. Only those traveler who have written reviews in countries served by Kiva will be invited to make a TripAdvisor $25 microloan.

 "We're thrilled to work with Kiva and support such a worthy cause," commented Barbara Messing, chief marketing officer, TripAdvisor. "We're also delighted to be able to provide our community with a way of giving back to the communities they traveled to, where even a single relatively small loan can make a life changing difference."

"This partnership combines the power of TripAdvisor's crowdsourcing and Kiva's crowd funding to make meaningful change in the world," said Premal Shah, President of Kiva. "As global citizens none of us are visitors, we are all connected. Nothing makes this more clear than when we travel. Through this partnership, the affinity you develop for the people and places you visit can continue when you return home. In most places in the world, often only a relatively small amount of money stands between a person and their dream to start or expand their shop, send their children to school, or bring solar light and clean water into their homes."

How the Kiva and TripAdvisor partnership works:

• When a traveler reviews a hotel, vacation rental, restaurant or attraction in a Kiva-supported country on one of TripAdvisor's English-language sites (US, UK, Canada, Ireland, and Australia), that reviewer is eligible to make a $25 microloan to a recipient in that country. This microloan is funded by TripAdvisor.
• After submitting a review for an eligible country, the user will receive an email from TripAdvisor with information about the microloan. This email directs the reviewer to Kiva.org, where the $25 microloan gift from TripAdvisor can be applied. Microloan gifts will only be offered for the user's first review of each eligible country.
• The reviewer can see personal and business details of potential borrowers in that country.  The reviewer selects a borrower and Kiva then facilitates the loan.
• Funds contributed by TripAdvisor will be lent and relent for one year by TripAdivsor travelers. After that year, 100 percent of the repayments will be donated by TripAdvisor to Kiva. The average repayment rate of loans facilitated on Kiva.org is 99 percent.

For more information on Kiva, go to www.Kiva.org. For more information on TripAdvisor, go to www.TripAdvisor.com.

About Kiva

Kiva is a non-profit organization working to alleviate poverty by connecting people around the world through microlending. With as little as a $25 loan, anyone can help a borrower create new opportunities for themselves and their family. Together with more than 850,000 Kiva lenders and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva has created economic opportunity for more than 900,000 borrowers. Since its inception in 2005, Kiva lenders have funded more than $375 million in loans with a 99% repayment rate.  Kiva is headquartered in San Francisco. www.kiva.org

About TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor® is the world's largest travel site,* enabling travelers to plan and have the perfect trip. TripAdvisor offers trusted advice from real travelers and a wide variety of travel choices and planning features with seamless links to booking tools. TripAdvisor branded sites make up the largest travel community in the world, with more than 60 million unique monthly visitors*, and over 75 million reviews and opinions. The sites operate in 30 countries worldwide, including China under daodao.com. TripAdvisor also includes TripAdvisor for Business, a dedicated division that provides the tourism industry access to millions of monthly TripAdvisor visitors.

TripAdvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) manages and operates websites under 19 other travel media brands, and together the sites attract more than 74 million unique monthly visitors.** TripAdvisor, Inc.'s travel media brands include www.airfarewatchdog.com, www.bookingbuddy.com,  www.cruisecritic.com, www.everytrail.com, www.familyvacationcritic.com, www.flipkey.com, www.holidaylettings.co.uk, www.holidaywatchdog.com, www.independenttraveler.com, www.onetime.com, www.seatguru.com, www.sniqueaway.com, www.smartertravel.com, www.tingo.com, www.travel-library.com, www.travelpod.com, www.virtualtourist.com, www.whereivebeen.com, and www.kuxun.cn.

*Source: comScore Media Metrix for TripAdvisor Sites, Worldwide, July 2012

**Source: comScore Media Metrix for TripAdvisor, Inc. and its subsidiaries, Worldwide, July 2012

©2012 TripAdvisor, Inc. All rights reserved.

SOURCE TripAdvisor