From time to time I run workshops, strategy sessions and give keynotes at Travel and Tourism conferences on the role of social networks, user generated content and peer reviews in that industry
A new industry booklet from Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre (STCRC) has revealed the power of interactive web tools, or user-generated content (UGC), in influencing consumer’s travel plans.
The research has revealed that almost a third of people think interactive web tools such as blogs, reviews and star ratings are ‘very influential’ in their holiday planning, with a further 50% saying these tools have ‘certain influence’ on their travel decisions.
91% of the 12,500 Australian travellers surveyed still rate state tourism websites as being the most trusted source of travel information with 61% saying they felt these sites could be further enhanced with the addition of a UGC feature to capture the comments of ‘real’ travellers.
Here’s the link to the paper… oh wait
There is more information on key findings related to this research in the attached industry release. We encourage you to forward this to your colleagues and to distribute this industry release to your communications team for wider distribution.
We would be also interested in hearing from any of your colleagues who are still to join our database but who would like to be kept up to date on latest research findings.
Unfortunately the details were sent to me as a word attachment (to be forwarded) and the hyperlinks don’t work. Why we have to open attachments to read a one page press release, well, don’t ask me. See if you find a link on their site (Sustainable Tourism CRC) and lemme know what it is? Should be two papers.
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