NIGEL THOMPSON MARJORIE YUE Ranks a lot
Believe it or not, there was a period of time in the world of travel called BT – Before TripAdvisor. Set up in 2000, it now has 435million online reviews and opinions, covering 6.8million places to stay, restaurants and attractions in 49 markets across the planet. We asked the numbercrunchers at TripAdvisor’s HQ in Massachusetts to give us the lowdown on how 2016 shaped up... 1. Reviewers shared experiences of 3,438,633 locations around the world. 2. London received over one million reviews – more than any other city. 3. The country with the fewest number of reviewers this year was Tuvalu in the South Pacific, with just six reviewers contributing a total of 27 reviews. 4. Japanese travellers wrote, on average, more reviews than any other nationality, at 10 per person. 5. The Chelsea Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, got more room bookings on TripAdvisor than any other hotel. 6. In the UK, the most-booked hotel in 2016 was The Montague on The
Gardens in London, followed by the Amba Hotel Charing Cross. 7. Alcatraz in San Francisco was the world’s top booked tourist attraction. 8. The most reviewed attraction was the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, with more than 32,000. 9. Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter was the UK’s leading booked attraction. 10. But for the UK’s most reviewed attraction, look no further than the London Eye – with more than 18,000. 11. Almost 800,000 properties worldwide received their first review last year. 12. Pasteis de Belem, a specialist bakery in Portugal’s capital Lisbon, received more than 10,000 reviews from hungry holidaymakers this year – more than any other food joint anywhere. 13. Britain’s top reviewed restaurant was Aqua Shard, in London’s Shard skyscraper by London Bridge, with in excess of 3,500. 14. The biggest 2016 review day in the UK was August 24, with more 90,000 submitted. 15. London was the chief reviewed British city of last year, followed by Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow and Brighton.
Enable Holidays, which specialises in getaways for holidaymakers with limited mobility, has just launched its biggest-ever brochure with more than 500 holidays in over 50 destinations, including popular hot spots and far-flung places such as South Africa, Thailand, Australia and Argentina. enableholidays.com
The Queen may have a heavy cold but the tourist numbers at the Royal Yacht Britannia are not to be sneezed at. Her Maj’s former floating palace – moored up in Edinburgh since 1999 – got a record 348,272 visitors in 2106, up 12.7 per cent year on year. royalyachtbritannia.co.uk
Self-catering accommodation firm cottages.com has axed credit card charges on all cottage bookings across its portfolio of nearly 20,000 properties in the UK, Ireland, France and Italy.