Press Coverage of Destinations Matters Least in Travelers’ Decisions

So much for destinations clamoring for press -- and bloggers by extension -- coverage. So much for the primacy of unpaid promotional channels. Buried in a very extensive study earlier this summer by TripAdvisor are two data points that show the disconnect between what travel businesses think matter in potential travelers making a decision to travel, versus what travelers actually think is important while choosing where to go. TripAdvisor's TripBarometer 2014 global traveler and accommodation survey study, released in April, tried to gauge the decision making process of travelers these days. The first question was: "Thinking generally about your vacations, which of the following do you think has an impact on your decision to travel to a particular destination? Please rate each of the following on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 means 'it does not impact on my decision at all' and 5 means 'it has a strong impact on my decision'". About 50K travelers answered this quest