There will probably never be a perfect replacement for getting advice from the people one knows personally, but the internet offers ways of coming ever closer.

Many new so-called travel 2.0 tools (i.e. travel reviews, ratings, blogs, etc.) are being widely deployed. To what effect?

In the US, where much of the hype around online communities has been in the vanguard, customers are certainly taking notice.

Internet Plays a Key Role in Decision-Making Process

Research conducted in August 2008 by Prophis Research with online US adults has shown that, when compared with a range of offline and online sources for travel decision-making, internet sources are largely seen to be near the top of the list.

While 78% of travelling online US adults rated the experiences of people they know as highly important, the next three rated sources were all internet based.

Well-known travel sites like Expedia/Travelocity/Orbitz drew relatively high importance ratings (60%), as did destination-oriented sites (59%). Traveler reviews found on the internet were said to be highly important by 50%. Travel blogs as an information source were found to play less of a role.

More traditional sources for travel information, such as guide books (30%), TV shows (26%), and mass media advertising (17%) all are showing to be less important than online for those with online access.

 

TripAdvisor Leads the Way in Travel 2.0

For sites which specialize in providing platforms for travelers to both contribute content (i.e. experiences, ratings, reviews, etc.) and review the content of others, TripAdvisor was both the most well-known (48% of US online adults who travel know the name) as well as most visited site among the top sites in this category (17% had visited in the past 12 months.

The next most recognized and used site with travel 2.0 functionality was TravelBuddy, with 33% awareness and 9% usage.

Research to be released in the next weeks and months will look more in-depth at the role that Travel 2.0 has on travelers and the implications it has for players in the industry.