• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, December 20, 2021

Vibrant images to convince even the most diehard homebodies to travel fill Microsoft Bing’s latest destination search hub, even as the U.S. federal government begins to reinitiate restrictions and lockdowns based on the spread of COVID-19 variants.

The experience announced Friday -- the Travel Guide -- centers on travel-based search results, featuring pages of exciting destinations and a trip-planning and booking hub.

The hub provides aggregated information on all elements of travel, from destinations and itineraries to flights and hotels. It aggregates the information and serves it up in a organized format with plenty of visuals.

The “Explore” feature enables site visitors to search on a destination. The location determines the nearest airport and which airlines and flights are available.

The site lists the least expensive flights, quick flights, coupons and deals, with a tab that allows site visitors to specifically search for popular destination hotels and scroll down to explore and travel the world virtually.

Images give visitors a 360-degrees panoramic view of the destination, as well as an interactive look based on day and nighttime views.

A setting on the page enables the user to choose the data that Microsoft can use to personalize the ads. Microsoft states that it uses data from searches and other online activity associated with this browser to serve personalized ads.

Ads that users see may be less relevant if they turn off this setting. Even with the setting turned off, users may still see personalized ads from other companies based on information they’ve collected from you.

Microsoft is partnering with Verizon Media, AppNexus, and other third-party providers to display personalized ads on MSN, Outlook.com, and other websites and apps. Microsoft also delivers search ads to Bing and our search syndication partners, according to the company’s website.

The Travel Guide also enables travelers to plan their dream vacation based on the location and the number of days, providing an idea of what the trip might look like.