Tripadvisor has ‘over 40 million monthly visitors’

TripAdvisor, the free travel guide and research website that assists travellers in gathering travel information, has more than 40 million monthly visitors and over 20 million registered members, according to company spokesman Emma O’Boyle.

“The sheer volume of reviews on TripAdvisor allows a traveller to get the complete picture of a property, from the opinions of many, before they book. The average traveller reads dozens of reviews before booking. In addition to candid traveller reviews, we have more than two million photos on the site that help travellers make an educated evaluation before booking. Over 10,000 hotels and other businesses feature TripAdvisor badges, which is an endorsement of the trust in TripAdvisor reviews and the quality of our content,” she told The Times Business in an interview.

Ms O’Boyle pointed out that there is an extensive amount of Maltese content on TripAdvisor which includes reviews on 204 hotels, 43 bed and breakfast establishments, 101 holiday rentals, 381 restaurants, 110 “things to do” and a number of forums featuring travel-related “conversations” about Malta.

In fact tomorrow’s Malta Hotels and Restaurants AGM is to be addressed by, among others, Helena Egan from TripAdvisor.

“We also think professionally written reviews have a place in travel planning and we’ve linked to professionally written reviews since our launch. We are happy to help travellers find all the information available on the web to plan the perfect trip,” she said.

Ms O’Boyle said travellers have clearly spoken about their preference for reviews written by real travellers as TripAdvisor is the world’s largest travel site and features more than 40 million monthly visitors.

“It’s because of the trusted traveller reviews and opinions on TripAdvisor that we enjoy such user loyalty,” she said.

She said that TripAdvisor sees 21 posts added each minute – that’s over 30,000 new reviews each day.

“Users can leave reviews on accommodation, restaurants and attractions. However there are lots of debates and useful information regarding flights and airlines to be found in our forums. We also have a flight search facility available to .co.uk and .com users.”

Ms O’Boyle said the sheer scale of TripAdvisor means its content is very important to both travellers and hoteliers.

“The industry certainly monitors what is said and we encourage hoteliers to engage with reviewers through the management response tool, which allows business owners and managers to respond publicly and directly to traveller reviews. Our large and passionate community of more than 40 million monthly visitors help to report any suspicious activity on the site,” she said.