AUSTIN, TEXAS, Dec. 15, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — Facing reports that Wiki-Peeks.org (no relation to WikiLeaks) was about to release details of a new secret government agency, HomeAway, Inc. – the world’s leading online vacation rental marketplace – today revealed its involvement in the formation of the “Ministry of Detourism,” an organization working to save family vacations.

“For too long, people have been unable to fully enjoy spending time with their friends and family while on vacation because they are forced to spend a lot of money only to be crammed together in a small hotel room,”.  “To help save family vacations, we joined forces with a new government agency – the Ministry of Detourism.  Its sole purpose is to let travelers know they can leave behind cookie-cutter travel experiences like hotels for the space, privacy and freedom of vacation rentals.”

HomeAway will disclose additional details about this secret government agency when it launches a new, humorous campaign on Feb. 6, 2011 with a 30-second spot in the third quarter broadcast of Super Bowl XLV on the FOX television network.

The campaign’s key message is “Why hotel when you can HomeAway.”

“Taking a vacation should be about taking advantage of the local flavor of a destination and staying in a spacious home with your family where you can truly live like a local,”.

The campaign, developed by Austin, Texas-based ad agency Vendor Inc., will be supported with digital media, social media and an interactive experience with a strong video sharing component on HomeAway.com. For more information, visit the Ministry of Detourism and HomeAway on YouTube and Facebook.

Lee County – Dec. 16, 2010 – Foreign tourists are snapping up bargain-priced apartments and houses in Florida, taking advantage of such deals as $70,000 to $100,000 apartments in the most popular locations such as Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale and Miami. Most buyers hail from Latin America, Europe and Canada.

“The buying opportunities are maybe the best ever. Who knows if we’ll see prices again like today’s in parts of South West Florida,” says Real Estate agent Joe Hart.

Foreclosure rates contributed to a 47 percent drop in housing prices in Miami since 2006, according to Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller 20-City Home Price index, and experts credit foreign investors for preventing further price declines.

“Most of the buyers are international, from countries like Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil and also Colombia, Italy, Mexico and Canada,” says Wendy Barnard from DG investments.

LEE County:Whilst the rest of the USA shivers as the cold grip of winter sets in, South West Florida’s Fort Myers Beach, that gem sitting on Florida’s Gulf Coast still has just as much sun and sand and fun as it always has done. In fact, if you’re looking for that Jimmy Buffet-style of slacking, Fort Myers Beach is where it’s at.

Droves of families and young singles flock to the busy intersection of San Carlos Boulevard and Estero Boulevard, an area so packed with bars, beach-apparel shops, restaurants, and motels that the locals call it “Times Square.” That Coney Island image certainly doesn’t apply to the rest of Estero Island, where old-fashioned beach cottages, manicured condominiums, and quiet motels beckon couples and families in search of more sedate vacations. Gary Young President of Universal Vacations commented ‘ Our boutque condo’s on Estero Blvd are proving a fantastic hit again with Vacationers. They see the value in staying in a condo which is more like home living rather than being captured in a hotel or resort and having to pay extra for what most would call everyday Items’ Young continued ‘The consumer has got wiser and smarter over the last 2 years - people are prepared to pay but they want value now’.

Narrow Matanzas Pass leads into broad Estero Bay, which separates the island from the mainland. While the pass is the area’s largest commercial fishing port (when they say “fresh off the boat” here, they aren’t kidding), the bay is an official state aquatic preserve inhabited by a host of birds as well as manatees, dolphins, and other sea life. Nature cruises go forth onto this lovely protected bay, which is dotted with islands.

A few miles south of Fort Myers Beach, a chain of pristine barrier islands includes unspoiled Lovers Key, a state park where a tractor-pulled tram runs through a mangrove forest to one of Florida’s best beaches.