12/8/2009 7:20 PM

E-Tourism Africa Summit

Johannesburg - December 2009

1

Who are we?

TripAdvisor is the most popular and largest travel community with…

• more than 25 million unique visitors per month• 11 million registered members• 30 million reviews and opinions on …•… 1 million+ destinations, hotels, attractions, and restaurants

We’re all about UGC!

2

TripAdvisor worldwide presence

The site is now available in 10 languages and 14 countries… more to come!

3

Base: 12,677 European AdultsSource: Forrester’s Technology Benchmark Study Q2 2008

Why bother with Internet and Social Media (in case you were wondering)

The majority of online consumers rely on the internet for travel research

4

Travellers research their holidays to Africa on TripAdvisor

Total Page Views in Oct 09: 23.9 Million

0

5,000,000

10,000,000

15,000,000

20,000,000

25,000,000

30,000,000

Jan-08

Feb-08

Mar-08

Apr-08

May-08

Jun-08

Jul-08

Aug-08

Sep-08

Oct-08

Nov-08

Dec-08

Jan-09

Feb-09

Mar-09

Apr-09

May-09

Jun-09

Jul-09

Aug-09

Sep-09

Oct-09

Up 90% year-on-year!

5

A Global Audience

Page Views by country of IP

Visitors looking at Africa Visitors looking at South Africa

GBR37%

FRA9%ITA

7%

USA7%

DEU5%

ESP4%

ZAF2%

BEL2%

NLD2%

CHE2%

OTHER23%

GBR26%

ZAF19%

USA14%

DEU7%

NLD3%

FRA3%

CAN2%

AUS2%

IRL2%

ITA2%

OTHER20%

GBR30%

FRA23%

TUN8%

DEU7%

ITA5%

ESP4%

BEL4%

CHE2%

CAN2%

USA2%

OTHER13%

Visitors looking at Tunisia

6

What are the consumers searching for?

• Online shoppers still plan to travel but spend less

• Consumers are shopping around more than ever

• 77% of online shoppers look to user ratings and reviews to help them spend in a savvy way

Source: JupiterResearch for Bazaarvoice and richrelevant, based on a survey of 800 consumers, February 2009

7

From Eric Schmidt at the Gartner conference in Orlando in October:

“(There is) a fundamental shift to user-generated content which has a lot of implications. Most people’s information will come

from other information as opposed to traditional sources. You’ll tend to listen to other people more than anything else.“

8

Why are user reviews so successful?

76%

65%

63%

60%

50%

48%

47%

22%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Reviews from like-mindedpeople most useful

UGC is important part oftravel research

UGC is more reliable thantravel agents

UGC had strong impact onaccommodation choice

UGC photographs are forentertainment

Concerned about "planted"reviews

UGC had strong impact ondestination choice

Too much UGC available

Percentage of Online Travel Researchers Using UGC in their research

Source: Jupiter ResearchUS Online Travel Consumer Survey Published May 2008

9

Why are user reviews so successful?

1.Trust

2.Freshness

3.Authenticity

Travellers are today’s opinion

formers

“Most relaxing, amazing place on

earth”

- Guest who stayed atFunzi Keys, Mombasa

“Very, very happy with the location, the staff

and the amazing owners”

- Guest who stayed atBlackheath Lodge, Cape

Town

10

More Raves than Rants

Reviews on TripAdvisor Are Largely Positive – Average Score is 3.74

4.1%

12.5%

33.4%

38.6%

11.3%

0.04%0%5%

10%

15%20%25%30%

35%40%45%

1.5 2 - 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 - 5Traveller Rating

11

Don’t Miss Out!!

• Community sites are where the conversations are happening now

• It’s cheap to get involved

• The viral effect can be extremely effective

12

How can you use this trend to your benefit?

1. The Basics

2. Get Involved

3. Serious About UGC

13

The Basics

Listen to what travellers say about your property / destination!

• Sign up to RSS feedsfor the TripAdvisor forums

• Google Alerts

• TripAdvisor Email notification for property owners

14

Get Involved

• Create a Facebook Page

• Twitter

• On TripAdvisor:

Add photos and videos

Engage in the TripAdvisor forums

Respond to Reviews

15

Serious About UGC

Integrate traveller generated content on your site

• Consumer reviews drive conversion

• Greater depth of info to refine decision-making

• Embracing dialogue drives loyalty

• All content is co-branded to associate with TripAdvisor authority and independence

16

Hotel, Attraction and Restaurant Reviews

17

Partnerships with Destination Organisations

18

In Summary…

• User Generated Content is here to stay…

•… and is very valuable for customers

• Join in the conversation and make the most of it!

19

Questions?