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Thursday 30 August 2012

TripAdvisor data reveals myth of the moaning Brit


 
LOVE A GOOD MOAN? OF COURSE NOT, WE’RE BRITISH!
TripAdvisor data reveals myth of the moaning Brit
It has long been said that us Brits are a nation of moaners and with this in mind we set-out to find out whether the label really does fit and TripAdvisor can officially bust that myth – at least when it comes to travel.

Data has revealed that in fact we Brits are among the five most positive nations when it comes to reviewing accommodation properties TripAdvisor. We score an average of 4.1 out of five - higher than almost every other European nation.[1]

South Africa are the brightest bunch, with an average score of 4.22 out of five posted by reviewers there, compared with just 3.8 for the least positive nation of reviewers – Malaysia.[2]
Emma Shaw, TripAdvisor spokesperson, said: “When TripAdvisor was founded, the idea of ‘the wisdom of the crowd’ was still relatively unheard of and there was a fear that people would only want to share their travel horror stories. In fact, our experience over the last twelve years has shown the opposite to be true – people do genuinely want to share their good experiences with the world first and foremost.”
Simon Fried, consumer behavioural psychologist, explains why the majority of consumers are prepared to share their positive experience with others:

“At first it may seem surprising that so many people selflessly contribute for the sake of the common good, but the underlying psychological urges are very strong. In the offline world when we receive a gift or someone does us a favour we are naturally compelled to give back. Now the internet has empowered us to carry this behaviour into the online world,”  

“Secondly, most of us have an image of ourselves as the sort of person that does the right thing. In order to maintain this image we prove it to ourselves by doing a good deed, such as recommending to others something we have enjoyed ourselves.  Both the need to give back and to maintain a consistent self-image are deep-seated urges.”

Data appendix

Table #1: Average TripAdvisor Accommodation Review Rating by Country of Origin

RANK COUNTRY AVERAGE REVIEWER RATING
1 South Africa 4.222347
2 Israel 4.168918
3 Russia 4.1614
4 New Zealand 4.134837
5 United Kingdom 4.122071
6 Australia 4.110752
7 Austria 4.101667
8 United States 4.085463
9 Switzerland 4.081924
10 Greece 4.080267
11 Canada 4.079667
12 Ireland 4.070494
13 The Netherlands 4.057945
14 Germany 4.047384
15 Chile 4.043335


[1] See appendix
[2] Calculated from analysis of TripAdvisor review ratings posted in 2011, from all 41 countries whose TripAdvisor members had posted more than 10,000 reviews