Best Destinations for 2010
TripAdvisor has just published its top destinations for 2010. Ireland does not do well here.
TripAdvisor Travellers Choice Awards are based on the millions of real and unbiased reviews and opinions from travellers on TripAdvisor.com. The winners were determined by a combination of travellers destination comments, favourite places, and overall destination popularity on TripAdvisor.
So say TripAdvisor.
Galway did make it into the top 25 destinations in Europe at number 23, with the note that the best thing about Galway is that you can walk everywhere.
Belfast made it into the top 25 destinations in the United Kingdom at number 16. Belfast has grown into a cosmopolitan destination and become a popular weekend break spot, the guide tells us.
But overall a disappointing representation for Ireland, and a stark reminder that consumer generated media is becoming an important part of the tourism distribution network. This is something which will be addressed in some depth in ITIC’s research project Tourism & Travel Distribution in a Changed World, which we expect to be completed by early July.
Mind you London also failed to make the top 25 World destinations which caused almost as much agnst there as the talks on forming the new coalition Government. Even among UK destinations London only ranked 4th behind Edinburgh, Brighton and York. So there’s work to be done ahead of the Olympics.
Maybe the real message here is that businesses and destinations should be asking satisfied guests to post a comment on TripAdvisor.
CLICK HERE to view TripAdvisor’s top traveller destinations for 2010.
If you would like to comment on anything you’ve read here, leave a comment below!
May 17th 2010
May 17th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Totally agree with the suggestion that satisfied customers should be encouraged to comment online.
I regularly check online comments from unbiased sources like TripAdvisor about potential destinations and hotels in particular.
And if any particular hotel doesn’t feature, then it won’t even be considered.
May 17th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
The online sphere is the de facto ratings system of tourism now. Trip Advisor is a medium that we ignore at our peril and errant tourism managers and owners who post spoof reviews or arrange spoof reviews in order to increase ratings will be found out by the savvy users of new media. One promo that Trip Advisor now uses is to print gratis, for any enterprise, comment or review prompt cards for distribution to guests. The industry should take this initistive with all appropriate new media and remind visitors to assist in the promotion of our country abroad. Most responsible tourists will be delighted to assist us in this venture. Well done ITIC on highlighting once again, the trends that require following for our little Island.
May 18th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
Great news for Killarney – TripAdvisor Traveller’s Choice selected Killarney as one of the Top 10 Outdoor & Adventure Destinations in Europe.
When you look at the other names in the Top 10 we are in some good company i.e., Interlaken in Switzerland and the Lake District in England and we finish ahead of such famed locations as Chamonix in France and Snowdonia in Wales.
The TripAdvisor comment read – “Forget fashionable footwear, only your most comfortable shoes will cut it in Killarney. It’s a walking town, and every trail is a history lesson. Journey on foot through Ireland’s first national park, 26,000 acres of woodlands, sandstone mountains and low-lying lakes. When your feet wear out, take in Killarney National Park via boat from Ross Castle. And because there are more hotel beds in Killarney than in any other Irish town or city (besides Dublin), you’ll always have a place to rest your head (and feet)”.
We must now work hard at building on this merited recognition and using it as a platform for further development and marketing of what we have to offer.
May 20th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Trip Advisor is a curse, totally without any honesty or integrity. At a recent social event one prominent hotelier said he did a survey among 6 Hoteliers around the country and it estimated that up to 50% of Trip Advisor reviews are dishonest, the site is used by cranks, competitors, former staff members, etc and the sooner the general public are made aware of this the better. This dishonest review site sould not be supported by any Tourist or Hotel organisations, they should be asked to restructure their site so that only honest reviews appear. Another hotelier (who shall be nameless) said a group of hoteliers in his area have a competition to see who will top the Trip Advisor ratings. Anyway now that I have got that off my chest, you still need to manage it until the world at large discovers it is ONE BIG SHAM .
May 27th, 2010 at 10:45 am
Sadly Ronnie Counihan is probably right. I’d be surprised though if anyone went solely on the recommendations of one site. I think a mix of checking the relevant property’s website as well as a mix of review sites would probably be used by most.
It is a pity though, to hear that some hoteliers would waste their own time and that of their staff posting bogus reviews instead of addressing the standards in their properties.
Such dishonesty should be exposed and I believe could quite easily if TripAdvisor spent time evaluating the IP addresses and traffic sources from reviewers which shouldn’t be too difficult – and then blacklist any properties found to be posting bogus reviews.
June 1st, 2010 at 6:59 pm
I totally agree with Ronnie Counihan – and I have felt this way for the past number of years. Trip Advisor has been manipulated and used by the Industry to boost and damage property image. I have never or would I ask a Guest, Friend or Colleague to post an article concerning our property Gleann Fia Country House as this would be totally against my principles.
Its not only in Ireland that the site has been damaged and tainted, I read somewhere about the Hotelier in Italy or Florida who offered a 10% discount to guests who posted a positive review.
Approximatively 3 years ago I tried to leave the Trip Advisor site – I e mailed asking to be removed, got an immediate reply stating that I had signed a contract and could only be removed if we had a fire or went out of business. I replied instructing them to remove me immediately as I was the registered owner of Gleannfia.com and also asked for a copy of what I signed. I never heard from them again.
I have in the past year or so asked the IHF Marketing personal to look into the site and get some backround information as to who Trip Advisor actually are etc etc.
Anyway like Ronnie – thats now off my chest. By the way Renvyle is a super place.
June 2nd, 2010 at 10:29 am
I think anyone who ignores sites like TripAdvisor because they don’t agree with them or because there are undoubtedly some problems with abuse is missing a trick. These sites are here to stay regardless of whether the industry likes them or not. And the integrity of posts will improve too as technology improves.
Plus personally I’d have no problem if when checking out of a hotel etc. I’ve had an enjoyable stay at, the receptionist suggested I might like to review the premises on TripAdvisor when I get home. Goodwill and all that. Anyone who ignores these sites ignores them at their cost.
Regarding who TripAdvisor are – found this brief history on Wikipedia:
TripAdvisor was founded in February 2000 by Stephen Kaufer. Original financing was obtained from Flagship Ventures, the Bollard Group and private investors.The company was purchased by InterActive Corporation in 2004. IAC spun off its travel group of businesses under the Expedia, Inc. name in August 2005. In May 2007 TripAdvisor acquired Smarter Travel Media operator of SmarterTravel.com and BookingBuddy.com; SeatGuru.com; TravelPod.com; and Travel-Library.com. Also in May 2007, TripAdvisor acquired The Independent Traveler, Inc., publisher of Cruise Critic.com and IndependentTraveler.com In February 2008, TripAdvisor acquired Holiday Watchdog a user-generated travel site in the U.K. In July 2008, TripAdvisor acquired Virtualtourist, a travel website with reportedly over 1 million registered members and OneTime.com a travel comparison site.In July 2008 TripAdvisor acquired a majority stake in FlipKey.com, a vacation-rental website.And in October of 2009, TripAdvisor purchased Kuxun.cn, China’s second-largest consumer travel site and hotel and flight search engine.