TripAdvisor^®, the world’s largest travel site*, today announced the winners of its first annual TripAdvisor Community Awards, dubbed “The Ollies” after the TripAdvisor mascot Ollie the Owl. The Ollies recognise the individual TripAdvisor members who made the most contributions to the site in 2015 across eight different award categories, with awards given to travellers at a World, Continent and Country level.

A total of 82 travellers received awards, drawn from a community of over 90 million TripAdvisor members.

Globally, Hugo Schierling from Argentina is named as the world’s Review Contributor of the Year, having submitted over 1,500 reviews in 2015, while Simon-Pierre Vullierme from France earns the World Traveller of the Year accolade, given to the one TripAdvisor member worldwide who reviewed experiences in the most countries over the past year.

The Ollies also honour member achievements in the UK travel community specifically, with six members from the UK winning across seven local award categories. They include:

· UK Review Contributor of the Year = Ernest Swift from Sheffield

· New Contributor of the Year = Stephen Kelly from Liverpool

· Accommodation Reviewer of the Year = Sarah Carter from Essex

· Food Reviewer of the Year = Stephen Kelly from Liverpool

· Attractions Reviewer of the Year = Fola Esan from London

· Travel Photographer of the Year = Jonathan White from Crewe

“Consumers can book their trips confidently on TripAdvisor thanks to the advice millions of travellers have shared on our site,” said Barbara Messing, chief marketing officer for TripAdvisor, “We have launched the Ollies to give a deserved spotlight to those individuals who made the most contributions in 2015, and to celebrate their efforts to improve the travel experience for others around the world.”

2015: The Year in Reviews

2015 saw a huge increase in the number of reviews and opinions posted on TripAdvisor, with a community of over 90 million members worldwide contributing content to the site. TripAdvisor now features more than 290 million reviews and opinions, spanning 5.3 million businesses and properties in more than 126,000 destinations.

With so much content contributed to the site, here are 13 interesting review trends that emerged in 2015:

1. The most reviewed city in the world was London, which received 881,991 reviews from visitors from around the globe in 2015 alone.

2. 27 July 2015 was the busiest day of the year for travel booking enquiries made on TripAdvisor

3. The most reviewed attraction in the world was the Eiffel Tower – with over 23,000 reviews. It also received more tour booking enquiries on TripAdvisor than any other attraction in the world.

4. 6,124 reviews were posted of the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel & Casino – making it the most reviewed hotel in the world last year. In the UK, Park Plaza Westminster Bridge in London received the highest volume of reviews – 2,889 in total.

5. South Korea saw the biggest growth in TripAdvisor reviews of any country in the world

6. In the UK, the London Eye received the highest volume of reviews of any attraction – 13,193 in total.

7. The longest TripAdvisor review of the year was 13,047 words long

8. Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans received the most reviews of any eatery in the world – 4,984 in total.

9. On average, Japanese travellers posted at least 9 reviews each on TripAdvisor in 2015 – proportionally more than any other nationality

10. Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora in French Polynesia received more booking enquiries on TripAdvisor than any other hotel in the world.

11. Over 850,000 different businesses worldwide received their first TripAdvisor review in 2015

12. In the UK, The Making of Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studio Tour received the most tour booking enquiries of any attraction on TripAdvisor in 2015.

13. Sacrée Fleur received the highest number of table booking enquiries from TripAdvisor travellers of any restaurant in the world. In the UK, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay received the most.

-ENDS-

Note to Editors:

Data based on traveller contributions submitted to TripAdvisor from January 1 – November 16, 2015.

Booking enquiries refers to unique commerce clicks on TripAdvisor that demonstrate traveller booking interest, such as clicking on a partner booking link.

About TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor^® is the world's largest travel site*, enabling travellers to plan and book the perfect trip. TripAdvisor offers advice from millions of travellers and a wide variety of travel choices and planning features with seamless links to booking tools that check hundreds of websites to find great hotel prices. TripAdvisor branded sites make up the largest travel community in the world, reaching 350 million unique monthly visitors**, and more than 290 million reviews and opinions covering 5.3 million accommodations, restaurants and attractions. The sites operate in 47 countries worldwide.

TripAdvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) manages and operates websites under 23 other travel media brands: www.airfarewatchdog.com,www.bookingbuddy.com, www.cruisecritic.com, www.everytrail.com, www.familyvacationcritic.com, www.flipkey.com, www.thefork.com(including www.lafourchette.com, www.eltenedor.com, www.iens.nl, www.besttables.com and www.dimmi.com.au), www.gateguru.com,www.holidaylettings.co.uk, www.holidaywatchdog.com, www.independenttraveler.com, www.jetsetter.com, www.niumba.com,www.onetime.com, www.oyster.com, www.seatguru.com, www.smartertravel.com, www.tingo.com, www.travelpod.com, www.tripbod.com,www.vacationhomerentals.com, www.viator.com, and www.virtualtourist.com.

*Source: comScore Media Metrix for TripAdvisor Sites, worldwide, July 2015

**Source: TripAdvisor log files, average monthly unique users, Q3 2015