TripAdvisor Announces Results of TripBarometer: World’s Largest
Accommodation and Traveller Survey with More than 35,000 Global Respondents
TripAdvisor®, the world’s largest travel site, today announced the results of the
world’s largest accommodation and traveller survey¹ – the TripBarometer by TripAdvisor. This study, conducted on behalf of
TripAdvisor by independent research firm StrategyOne (a division of Edelman
Berland), will be biannual and reports on top travel and hospitality industry
trends, according to more than 35,000 travellers and accommodations around the
world.
The results of the TripBarometer highlight country
level, regional and global trends within the travel sector and reveal insights
into economic outlook, travel planning, booking methods and traveller
expectations. The report shows that Indian accommodations are the most
optimistic about their business prospects in 2013, while 77 percent of domestic
travellers plan to increase their travel spend this year.
Indian hoteliers are able to look back at last year with
satisfaction: 81 percent of the over 750 hoteliers surveyed for the
TripBarometer reported that 2012 was economically successful for them. In fact,
28 percent of Indian accommodation owners went so far as to describe 2012 as
"very profitable". Looking at these findings, India is in peak
position compared to other key markets around the world.
Indian
accommodation owners are the most bullish in the world with 89 percent of them
stating that they are optimistic about their probability this year, which is
above the global average of 68 percent. This positive mood is also reflected in terms of plans to increase
staff levels: 41 percent of Indian accommodations plan to create new jobs,
which places them first in the ranking of other key global markets for job
creation in 2013.
Asian Accommodations amongst Most Optimistic in World About
Profitability in 2013
(ranked in order of optimism)
Accommodation owners
from Asian countries polled in the TripBarometer are amongst the most
optimistic in the world.
Region
|
Percentage of respondents optimistic
about business profitability in 2013
|
North
America
|
82%
|
South
America
|
77%
|
Asia
|
72%
|
Africa
|
71%
|
Middle
East
|
71%
|
Australasia
|
65%
|
Europe
|
54%
|
GLOBAL
|
68%
|
Looking at hiring
trends within the global accommodation industry, 19 percent of respondents are
planning to add new jobs in 2013. According to the TripBarometer, Asian
accommodations are nearly three times (32%) as likely to add news jobs in 2013
as European accommodations (12%).
Asian accommodations
are amongst the most likely to increase their room rates in 2013, with 42
percent of accommodation providers planning to increase rates this year. In
India, 47 percent of accommodations are planning to increase room rates in the
coming months.
Region
|
Percentage of respondents who plan
to increase room rates
|
South
America
|
48%
|
North
America
|
43%
|
Asia
|
42%
|
Africa
|
41%
|
Middle
East
|
39%
|
Australasia
|
36%
|
Europe
|
32%
|
GLOBAL
|
40%
|
Global Travellers’
Plans to Increase Travel Spend Present Opportunity for Accommodations
Travellers
from Africa are showing the biggest increase in their planned travel spend for
2013, with 76 percent of respondents saying they estimate that their travel budget
will increase this year. Travellers from the Middle East (75%) and South
America (58%) also plan to spend notably more on travel in 2013. Globally, 50
percent of travellers expect their travel spend to go up this year.
Region
|
Percentage of respondents who expect their travel budget to increase in
2013
|
Africa
|
76%
|
Middle East
|
75%
|
South America
|
58%
|
Asia
|
49%
|
Australasia
|
44%
|
North America
|
44%
|
Europe
|
44%
|
GLOBAL
|
50%
|
Online Channels
Acting as Megaphone for Traditional ‘Word of Mouth’
The
TripBarometer reveals that 69 percent of travellers globally use travel review
websites when researching and planning their trips. Over half (62%) of
respondents in Asia and seven in ten (70%) respondents in India look to travel
review websites.
The
three sources of information reported as being most useful by global and Asian
travellers are all online sources.
Information Source
|
Percent of respondents finding source most “useful” (Global)
|
Travel review websites
|
38%
|
Web based travel agencies
|
19%
|
Travel operator websites
|
16%
|
Friends and family
|
10%
|
Travel magazines & brochures
|
6%
|
Social media
|
4%
|
High street travel agencies
|
4%
|
Other
|
3%
|
With
travellers going online for their travel research and planning, they are also
showing preference for online as the primary booking channel. Globally, the
majority of travellers are booking accommodation via web-based travel agencies
(27%), closely followed by accommodations’ own websites (23%).
Business
owners report their own website as the channel that generates the most amount
of bookings (35%) for them, followed by online travel agencies (18%). The data
paints a slightly less positive story for store front travel agencies, with 9
percent of travellers booking their last accommodation through an offline
travel agent.
Looking
strictly at the results for Asian accommodations, 28 percent report their own
website as the channel that generates the majority of their bookings, followed
by online travel agencies (24%) and their own mobile app (13%).
The results of the TripBarometer reveal that travel
review websites have the biggest influence on travellers’ decisions when
choosing a hotel: 93 percent of travellers indicated that other people’s
reviews and opinions on travel review websites have influenced their decision
to book accommodations for their last trip. Not surprisingly, a majority (96
percent) of accommodations globally perceived online reviews are of crucial
importance for generating booking.
“The TripBarometer has revealed useful insights into
what global travellers are planning and shone a light on the areas where
accommodation providers can do more to meet guests’ expectations,” said
Christine Petersen, President, TripAdvisor for Business. “With travellers
choosing digital channels for their travel planning and research, traditional
word of mouth has been amplified and online booking has become the norm across
the globe. Furthermore, as business optimism and travel budgets increase across
Asia, it seems likely that hospitality businesses in the region will benefit
from this positive sentiment.
Indian Properties in
Control of Their Online Reputation
The TripBarometer shows that a majority (91 percent)
of hospitality businesses in India indicate that they are taking active control
of their online reputation by monitoring traveller reviews online.
Indian accommodations consider both guest rants and
raves equally valuable feedback. According to the TripBarometer, accommodations
in India are proactive in responding to both positive and negative online
reviews with 89 percent of survey respondents claiming that they respond to
positive reviews and nearly all (99 percent) of respondents indicating that
they respond to negative reviews, either online or in private.
Good staff performance does not go unnoticed with over
half (64 percent) of Indian properties indicating that they have congratulated
or rewarded staff as a result of positive online reviews. Guest feedback is
taken seriously by Indian accommodations with 71 percent indicating that they
have addressed the content of a negative review with the staff involved and a
further 63 percent having invested in staff training on account of receiving a
negative online review.
“With travel review websites as the biggest influence
on travellers’ decisions when choosing accommodation, it’s encouraging to see accommodations
in Asia taking immediate action to manage their online reputation by
engaging with past guests and the wider traveller community through management
responses to online reviews,” said Deepesh Saxena, TripAdvisor for Business’
Territory Manager in India. “One of the best ways to generate more traveller
reviews is to simply ask hotel guests to share their travel experiences
online.”
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