Three-Quarters (76%, +7 Pts. From 2011) of American Holiday Travelers Find Other Travelers' Reviews Trustworthy While Half (50%, +9 Pts.) Factor Reviews Into Their Own Plans
The data also reveal that as Americans get older, they become less trustworthy of other travelers' reviews. Young Americans (77%, up 7 points from 2011), aged 18-34, are most likely to find other travelers' reviews `trustworthy', followed by middle-aged Americans (70%, up 3 points), aged 35-54, and American seniors (61%, up 7 points), aged 55+.
Americans with higher household incomes (77% - $75,000+ annually) are most likely to find other travelers' reviews `trustworthy' (10% very/67% somewhat), indicating no change from last year. Middle-income Americans (71% - $25-$74,000 annually) are more `trustworthy' (13% very/57% somewhat) of other travelers' reviews in 2012 compared to last year (65%), an increase of 6 points. Although lower income Americans (64%, under $25,000 annually) are the least likely to find other travelers' review `trustworthy' (11% very/53% somewhat), they have shown the biggest increase (up 14 points) from 2011 (50%).
The Influence of Other Travelers Experiences
More Americans are taking others' reviews into account when they're planning their own vacations. Half (50%) of Americans who are confident they will take a holiday trip in the next year `factor' (5% all the time/45% some of the time) other travelers' reviews into their own booking plans, up 9 points from those who answered similarly last year (41%). The other half (49%) of Americans taking a holiday trip `don't factor' (23% never/27% not very often) other travelers' reviews into their plans, down 9 points.
Just as young Americans are more likely to find other travelers' reviews `trustworthy', they are also most likely to factor other travelers' reviews into their own booking plans (47%, up 5 points from 2011), followed closely by middle-aged Americans (44%, up 6 points). Only three in ten (27%) of American seniors factor other travelers' reviews into their own plans, although this number is up 5 points from 2011 (22%).
Higher-income Americans (55%, down 1 pt.) are most likely to factor others' reviews into their holiday travel plans. Three in ten (27%) lower-income Americans are least likely to factor in such reviews into their plans, although this number has increased by 8 pts. from 2011. The biggest jump in those who factor in other travelers' reviews is seen in middle-income Americans (41%), revealing an increase of 12 pts. from last year.
Sharing Your Own Experiences
While many Americans who are confident of future holiday travels factor in others' reviews, some also share their own reviews and experiences online. One-third of Americans (33%) say they share their own reviews and experiences online, up two points from 2011 (31%). The most popular forum for sharing one's own travel reviews is on social networking sites (23%, up 1 point.), followed by travel review sites (12%, up 2 points), consumer review sites (9%, up 5 points), and one's own blog or website (4%, no change).
Four in ten (42%) young American share reviews of their own travel experiences online, up 5 points from 2011, making this group the most likely to do so compared to middle-aged (29%, no change) and senior (16%, down 4 points) Americans. Social media networking sites are most popular amongst young (35%, up 6 points) and middle-aged (18%, down 1 point) Americans, while American senior are equally as likely to use travel review sites (6%, up 3 points), social networking sites (5%, down 1 point), and consumer review sites (4%, up 3 points).
Nearly four in ten (36%) higher-income Americans share reviews of their own travel experiences online, down 1 point from last year, but are still the most likely to share compared to middle-income (29%, up 2 points) and lower-income Americans (24%, up 5 points). Social networking sites are the most used forum for sharing by higher-income (26%, up 2 points), middle-income (21%, up 1 point), and lower-income (16%, up 4 points) Americans.
These are some of the findings of Ipsos polls conducted November 8-13, 2012. For the survey, a nationally representative sample of 1,000 randomly-selected adults aged 18 and over residing in the U.S. was interviewed by telephone via Ipsos' U.S. Telephone Express omnibus. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate within 1773.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire population of adults in the U.S. been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/gender composition reflects that of the actual U.S. population according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
For more information on this news release please contact:
Sean Simpson Associate Vice President Ipsos Public Affairs 416.574.4474 [email protected]
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