Should Your Trust Online Travel Reviews? + The Myth of Scotland's Fairy Pools
This post is inspired by something we're calling 'The Trip Advisor Effect'... basically the internal voice that that wonders silently, "Should we trust online travel reviews by someone we don't know?"
... And, does a form of blind trust or crowd mentality lead to monkey-see monkey-do vacations? For an interesting perspective and great story from a tour guide, listen to this travel podcast episode from Amidlife Traveler, appropriately titled "TripAdvisor, Can We Trust Online Reviews & The Myth of Scotland's Fairey Pools."
You will hear a short story, told by a guide in Scotland who has been guiding and leading tours for over 10 years. You will hear in his voice how tourism in Scotland has evolved in recent years, changing the types of tourists and tourist expectations.
Plus you get an insider surprise story that Scotland's famous Fairy Pools pretty much became famous online through the combination of a made up story from tour guides coming into collision with the age of the internet.
What? Tour Guides Made up the Story of Scotland's Fairy Pools?
After you listen to the entire podcast, it is clear that technology is changing the travel industry, travel experiences and vacation expectations. Another proof point to to this is Trip Advisor and recent negative media frenzy.
"I Made My Shed The Top Rated Restaurant on TripAdvisor"
Unfortunately, TripAdvisor has been in the news with breaking story across media sites about how one London man managed to get his garden shed listed on TripAdvisor as a restaurant then through a series of fake photos and fake reviews to earn the coveted #1 ranking for best restaurant in London.
If you haven’t heard the story, there are four articles below that you can get the details of, and it’s a good story. But what is the after-affect of this? Will it make people question or wonder more about the accuracy of online travel planning websites with ratings and reviews, such as TripAdvisor?
ARTICLES
3 TAKEAWAY IDEAS
(1)Tourists have Monkey-See / Monkey-Do habits Tourists tend to follow other tourists. While it can start at vacation planning by choosing destinations, hotels, and activities based on ratings of others, it continues into the vacation.
(2) The internet is drastically shaping travel and setting expectations of tourists Travel booking sites with robust ratings and reviews like TripAdvisor are hugely influential for travelers for travel planning, for better or for worse.
(3) “The Fairy Pools” on Isle of Skye was a story made up by tour guides What began years ago as a story to share with groups of backpackers, has today evolved into a place topping many ‘must see’ lists for Scotland.
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VACATION IDEAS FOR SCOTLAND
HAVE A FANTASTIC TRIP!
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