12 March, 2013 - TripAdvisor^®, the world’s largest travel site*, announces it is the first travel site to reach 100 million reviews and opinions – a more than 50 percent increase year-on-year.  Covering more than two million tourism businesses in more than 116,000 destinations around the world, the site has candid traveller reviews of hospitality businesses in every country of the world.  Its remarkable scale and freshness of content allows travellers around the globe to make informed choices, based on the experiences of many, whatever their destination or personal preferences.

Reviews add confidence and result in better trips

According to a recent study by PhoCusWright¹, commissioned by TripAdvisor, nearly nine out of ten users (87 percent) agree that TripAdvisor hotel reviews “help me feel more confident in my decisions.”  Despite travellers' increasing expectations and demands, the study also revealed that eight out of ten users (80 percent) agree that TripAdvisor hotel reviews “help me have a better trip.”

A socially connected world

The benefit of the wisdom of the crowds is increasingly supplemented by the wisdom of friends, as Facebook-connected users currently submit 35 percent of new reviews on TripAdvisor.  With the integration of Facebook on TripAdvisor, this means that travellers are able to see and share valuable perspectives with their own friends and their friends' friends.  

Community spirit

TripAdvisor now has contributions from members living in every country of the world. Travellers cite their top three reasons for writing hotel reviews¹ as follows:

1. I feel good about sharing useful information with other travellers

2. I wanted to share a good experience with other travellers

3. I feel that I’m part of the TripAdvisor social travel community

The average review rating on TripAdvisor in 2012 was 4.1 out of five.

“Travellers the world over want to have the perfect trip, and nothing helps travel planning more than recent reviews from people who have been there before,” says Steve Kaufer, co-founder and CEO of TripAdvisor. “Having 100 million reviews and opinions adds remarkable perspective to any travel-planning decision, and we thank our passionate community as their insights continue to increasingly help travellers plan and have the perfect trip.”

The coverage and associated usefulness of the site is set to exponentially grow as its user and membership base grow. TripAdvisor currently has more than 200 million unique users a month², more than 47 million marketable members (more than 100 percent growth year on year)³ and collects more than 60 user contributions a minute.  

FACT BOX

• For a hotel in the top 500 searched destinations on TripAdvisor the average number of reviews is 139 and the average number of candidphotos is 53⁴.

• TripAdvisor features reviews on hotels in every country except Vatican City, which has no hotels listed on the site

• TripAdvisor has restaurant reviews in 99 percent of all countries in the world (exceptions: Marshall Islands and Somalia)

• The site features reviews on attractions in 98 percent of all countries in the world (exceptions: South Sudan, Nauru, Equatorial Guinea)

• 16 attractions feature more than 5,000 reviews, with the most reviewed being Central Park in New York with 11,993 reviews⁴

• 26 hotels feature more than 5,000 reviews, with the most reviewed being the Luxor in Las Vegas with 9,904 reviews⁴

• For a hotel in the top 50 searched destinations in the UK on TripAdvisor, the average number of reviews is 240 and the average number of candid photos is 53.

¹Source: According to a September 2012 PhoCusWright survey of 2,739 respondents. Participants for the study were solicited at random through a pop-up invitation link on TripAdvisor.com 

²Source: Google Analytics, worldwide data, January 2013

³Correct as at 10 March 2013 

⁴Correct as at 28 February 2013