Holiday Plans – More Than Half Of Us Use Online Reviews

A new study of 12,500 Australian holiday-makers shows over half of us use online posts/reviews when choosing a destination or accommodation.

The Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre (STRC) study lists the top four sites used by survey respondents:

• Trip Advisor
• Lonely Planet Bluelist
• Expedia
• Yahoo Travel

Sites Have Two Key Features

These sites all have
(i) a rating system for the tourist product or service
(ii) the ability for consumers to write a review of their experience.

A Trip Advisor web search for the whole of Australia reveals many thousands of visitor reviews on more than 6,699 hotels and other styles of accommodation, 1,968 attractions and 13, 664 restaurants and food outlets.

Reviews – Preference For Sites With Contributor Profiles

It seems people like reviews from those with similar holiday or travel preferences and they prefer sites which include contributor profiles, including age, sex and family profiles.

While these sites are growing in popularity, users have expressed concerns that tourism operators may pose as visitors and post fake entries. The issues of trustworthiness, reliability, accuracy and credibility were also raised.

Interestingly 91% of respondents still rate state tourism websites as being the most trusted source of travel information with 61% believing these sites could be further enhanced with the addition of an interactive or user-generated content feature (UGC) to capture the comments of ‘real’ travellers.

An Opportunity For Operators And Destinations

CEO of STCRC, Ian Kean says travel operators and destinations could take advantage of this consumer shift in holiday planning, especially with 64% of those surveyed commenting that they find it increasingly useful when travel operators themselves respond to the posted comments. He says:

“Tourism operators and destination marketing organisations shouldn’t ignore the rising popularity of sites containing UGC content or the role that they are playing in the trip planning behaviour of travellers…

These sites provide information that can not only influence final booking plans but in fact can result in travellers altering their existing plans. User-generated content presents a great opportunity for tourism operators and marketing organisations to hear from and communicate openly with their customers.”

An easy-to-read booklet Users Are Doing It For Themselves outlines the key findings of the research. It is available for free download by visiting the STCRC website http://www.crctourism.com.au/.

About STCRC

Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre (STCRC) was established under the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centres program in 1997, and has grown to be the largest dedicated tourism research organisation in the world.

STCRC was formed to underpin the development of a dynamic, internationally competitive, and sustainable Australian tourism industry.

A business opportunity here?