As more and more people use the internet to plan and book their holidays so they have come to rely increasingly on review sites where fellow travellers post their experiences of destinations, accommodation and activities online. Many consider this candid, independent advice an essential part of planning their trip, with recent research showing that traveller-generated reviews are second only to photographs and videos in influencing travel-booking decisions.

What is TripAdvisor?

• TripAdvisor is the world’s largest online travel community, featuring:
• 25 million unique monthly visitors worldwide and 6m+ members
• 15+ million unbiased reviews and opinions of hotels, restaurants, and attractions worldwide, up from 10 million in June 2007
• 750,000 hotels, restaurants and attractions reviewed in over 33,000 destinations
• 1.3 million traveller photos

TripAdvisor.co.uk was voted the favourite site for researching holidays and as a source of holiday inspiration in the 2008 Which? Holiday survey

What will TripAdvisor bring to VisitScotland.com
TripAdvisor will provide reviews from real travellers of almost 1000 accommodation providers across Scotland who currently offer online booking. We believe the real benefit of this will be seen in terms of increased bookings for participating accommodation. Unbiased user-generated reviews have been proven to turn lookers into bookers by using the trust consumers place on the opinions of travellers like themselves.

According to the e-consultancy/Bazaarvoice survey conducted in 2007 with 360 e-commerce websites, adding user reviews had the following impact:

• 56% said it lifted conversion; 9% that said it had a negative impact on conversion
• 77% said it raised traffic; 5% that said it lowered it
• 42% said it increased the average shopping basket; 6% that said it decreased it

Check out TripAdvisor's own guide for accommodation providers that's packed with suggestions for getting the best out their review system.

How will TripAdvisor be featured on VisitScotland.com?

TripAdvisor content will display in two areas:

• on a search results listing featuring providers who have been reviewed on the TripAdvisor site
• on the Welcome page of a provider’s listing

View screenshots of how this TripAdvisor branding will look.

We believe that the addition of TripAdvisor reviews to VisitScotland.com is a key development for our business, which will be of great benefit to both providers and potential customers.

If you have any questions about this exciting new opportunity, please check these FAQs.

If you still have questions that you would like answered, please email our Tourism Services team, where one of our customer service advisors will be happy to help you.