TUI survey reveals power of word-of-mouth

Nine out of 10 people tell family and friends about their holiday on returning home, according to research by TUI Travel, which found many more people read online reviews of travel experiences than write them.

The group’s Thomson and First Choice Trends Report 2009 revealed the results following a survey of separate groups of customers and members of the public, comprising about 1,700 respondents in all.

One quarter of those surveyed – 800 Thomson and First Choice customers and just over 900 members of the public – said they had put reviews on independent forums, and one fifth uploaded photographs to social-networking sites or wrote reviews on holiday-company sites.

Almost half the public group and 71% of customers cited independent websites as their number-one source for holiday research, and 39% of the public group looked at customer reviews on tour-operator websites.

TUI Travel UK and Ireland managing director Dermot Blastland said: “More people are reading than posting reviews. We would like to see more travellers share their thoughts, whether good or bad.”