Online travel service Expedia.com announced that Henrik Kjellberg has been appointed president of Expedia Asia Pacific, succeeding Barney Harford, who has held the role since 2004.

The carefully planned transition provides for Harford's continued involvement with Expedia Asia Pacific activities as a director of eLong.com, in which Expedia holds a controlling 52% interest. Expedia also announced the establishment of its new Asia Pacific regional headquarters in Hong Kong.

"With Expedia's launches into the three largest markets in the Asia Pacific region successfully accomplished, and after almost eight years with Expedia, I feel it is the right time for me to pursue a long held dream — to spend a year exploring the world's greatest ski and surf locations," said Barney Harford. "Having worked alongside Henrik for over five years, I am confident he will do a fantastic job developing and expanding Expedia's businesses in the region."

"Barney has played many critical roles at Expedia and has been instrumental in our success. We're sad to see him go, but we look forward to his continued contributions on the eLong board and to following his upcoming travels around the world over the coming year," said Dara Khosrowshahi, president and CEO of Expedia, Inc. "Henrik has played a major role in building Expedia's European business over the last five years, and with his track record of spirited leadership and extensive international experience, he is the natural choice to lead the next stage of Expedia's Asia Pacific expansion."

Kjellberg will relocate to Hong Kong to establish the Expedia regional headquarters, the latest in a series of developments that mark Expedia's focus on the rapidly growing Asia Pacific markets. Expedia last week announced the launch of its new Japanese Web site, Expedia.co.jp.