Just as there are The Emmys and The Grammys in the television and music industries, the travel industry also has its own awards – “The Ollies” – named after TripAdvisor’s mascot Ollie the Owl.
The TripAdvisor Community Awards honour the world’s top reviewers from the over 90 million members on its website. TripAdvisor members who have made the most contributions to the site in 2015, across eight different categories, are given awards. A total of 82 travellers have received awards, including three Malaysians.
Nellie Lim from Kuala Lumpur was awarded Attractions Reviewer of the Year – Asia, with a post count of 600. Susan Chow from Subang Jaya was awarded Travel Photographer of the Year – Malaysia, with an outstanding post count of 2,709. And Loi Liong Yu from Petaling Jaya was awarded New Contributor of the Year – Malaysia, with a post count of 142. (Figures are as at receipt of the awards.)
“Consumers can book their trips confidently on TripAdvisor, thanks to the advice millions of travellers have shared on our site,” said TripAdvisor chief marketing officer Barbara Messing. “We have launched the Ollies to give those individuals who made the most contributions in 2015 a deserved spotlight, and to celebrate their efforts to help improve the travel experience for others around the world.”
The numbers are huge with over 290 million reviews and opinions, spanning 5.3 million businesses and properties in more than 126,000 destinations.
Some interesting trends were observed in 2015. London was the most reviewed city in the world with 881,991 reviews, while in Asia, it was Bangkok with 232,922 reviews. July 27 was the busiest day of the year for travel booking enquiries made on the website. The most reviewed attraction in the world was the Eiffel Tower, with over 23,000 reviews. It also received the most tour booking enquiries on the website. In Asia, it was Thailand’s Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha) with 7,946 reviews.
Japanese travellers posted a minimum of nine reviews each, which was more than any other nationality. The most reviewed hotel in the world was the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel & Casino at 6,124 reviews, while in Asia, it was the Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore at 3,651 reviews. The country which had the biggest growth in the number of reviews was South Korea. The eatery that received the most reviews worldwide was Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans, and in Asia, it was Potato Head Beach Club in Bali. The hotel that received the most booking enquiries on the website was Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora in French Polynesia.
The longest review in the year was 13,047 words long. And over 850,000 different businesses worldwide received their first TripAdvisor review during the year.
Now, how’s that for making the most out of your trips?
Source: https://www.star2.com/travel/malaysia/world/2016/01/27/malaysians-honoured-in-tripadvisor-awards/
