Expedia, which has become the country's fourth-largest travel agency, benefited from higher revenue per airline ticket and a 80 percent growth in its hotel room bookings, which are more profitable than sales of airline tickets.

Tourism on the North and South Forks collectively brings in more than $1.2 billion a year in hotel room bookings, restaurant meals, roadside produce purchases and other acquisitions, according to Michael V. Hollander, the president of the Long Island Convention and Visitors Bureau.