Tripadvisor Travellers Offer Glimpse into 2009 Trends

Travellers to Spend More on Leisure Travel in the Next Year despite Economic Climate

Budoni in Sardinia, Italy is 2009’s Travel Hotspot

Bangalore, India. – November 11, 2008 – TripAdvisor®, the world’s largest travel community, today announced the results of its annual travel trends survey of more than 8,000 worldwide travellers. One trend identified is an increase in leisure travel spending.

TripAdvisor has once again unveiled its TravelCast list of emerging hotspots for 2009, and atop the list is Budoni, in Sardinia, Italy, Agia Galini, Crete and Petra, Jordan.

“It's encouraging that despite the economic climate, Indian travellers are still planning leisure travel in the next year,” said Sharat Dhall, managing director, for TripAdvisor India. “Additionally, travellers are getting greener, and plan to be more environmentally-conscious about their travel decisions in the next year.”

Travel Budgets

Twenty-nine percent of worldwide travellers are likely to take three holidays in the next year. Fifty-two percent of the respondents said they have spent more than budgeted for leisure travelling in the past 12 months.

Environmentally Sound

Thirty-four percent of worldwide respondents said they would like to be more environmentally conscious during their travel in the coming year.

Mobiles and Wi-Fi

Eighty-one percent of worldwide travellers think that mobile phones should be banned on flights. Sixty-two percent of worldwide travellers want wireless internet access on airlines.

Keep the cell phone away

Sixteen percent of travellers surveyed think talking loudly on the cell phone is the most annoying traveller faux pas while thirty-one percent felt children kicking their seat back is most irksome. Seventy-three percent of the respondents think families with young children should sit in their own section of an airplane.

Top Airlines

The favourite airlines for worldwide respondents are British Airways; Singapore Airlines and Air France. These airlines were the favourites among travellers because of their friendly and helpful staff, comfortable seats and good on-time arrival and departure record.

Historical Inclination

Thirty-eight percent of worldwide travellers would travel to United States for their holidays. Sixty-four percent of the travellers prefer city sight seeing in a new place , with beaches being a close second favourite among worldwide travellers with 63 percent. Fifty-six percent of worldwide of travellers are very likely to visit historical sites in the next year.

Holiday Nightmare

Thirty percent of worldwide travellers had their worst holiday experience because of dirty toilets in their hotel rooms.

Additional Travel Titbits

• Nineteen percent of worldwide travellers have taken items from a hotel, such as towels, silverware, or decorative pieces
• Fifty percent of the worldwide travellers tend to wash their hands more often than they usually do.
• Thirty-one percent of worldwide travellers take less than one day to unwind on vacation

Budoni, in Sardinia, Italy is TravelCast’s Next Hot Spot in 2009

TripAdvisor® TravelCast is a barometer of what’s hot in travel destinations. TripAdvisor engineers have developed a proprietary algorithm that looks at several criteria including changes in search activity and postings throughout the world’s largest travel community, TripAdvisor. The TravelCast then predicts the rising stars in travel. The complete world is provided below.

TripAdvisor TravelCast Top Ten World Destinations for 2009

1. Budoni, Sardinia
2. Agia Galini, Crete
3. Petra, Jordan
4. Ardmore, Ireland
5. Peschiera del Garda, Italy
6. Protaras, Cyprus
7. Torre del Mar, Spain
8. Hanioti, Greece
9. Wadduwa, Sri Lanka
10. Goslar, Germany