LONDON – October 22, 2008 – TripAdvisor®, the world’s largest travel community, today announced it now features more than 20 million traveler reviews and opinions in six languages, up from 15 million in April of this year and 6 million two years ago. TripAdvisor has also experienced rapid growth in registered members, jumping from more than 5 million members at the start of the year to more than 9 million members today.
The company also recently launched TripAdvisor domains in India and Japan, now operating in eight countries outside the U.S. More than half of TripAdvisor’s 25 million unique monthly visitors come from outside the U.S. In addition to the TripAdvisor brand, the TripAdvisor Media Network operates an additional 11 travel media brands, combined, reaching more than 32 million unique monthly visitors.
Employee growth in the TripAdvisor Media Group is keeping pace. In 2008 alone, the company has already hired approximately 180 new employees, bringing total worldwide headcount to 470.
“This is a remarkable period of growth for TripAdvisor and we’re pleased to continue to help millions of travelers around the world plan and have the perfect trip,” said Steve Kaufer, founder and CEO of TripAdvisor. “We continue to see tremendous growth opportunity for our business, both with the addition of new features on our sites and continued international expansion.”
TripAdvisor recently launched the “More than Footprints™” philanthropic initiative, in which the company will donate $1 million to five travel-related nonprofits. With 20 million reviews and opinions from real travelers, TripAdvisor believes in the power of the collective voice. Accordingly, TripAdvisor will divide the $1 million between the nonprofits democratically, through online voting. Voting is open at www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Causes through November 9, 2008.