Photo by Hyperakt

When Lonely Planet published its first guidebook in the 70s, it created a product line that independent travellers swore by for decades. Then the Internet came along, providing completely new ways to create, share and consume travel information. What is important to remember when seeking travel advice is that there is always someone behind the advice given. Some travellers stay true to TripAdvisor ratings and others swear by a certain brand of guidebooks. What determines whose travel advice people trust the most? I think it all depends on travel style and values.

Official Tourism Sites

Every self-respecting municipality or government has an official tourism site that aims to show the best sides of the area. The information on these sites is usually thorough and most likely there’s a person hired to update it systematically. Official tourism sites never express opinions or recommend one place over another but instead list everything in a detailed manner.

Their main goal is to market the area to tourists. It’s highly unlikely that you’ll find anything that doesn’t support the image they’re trying to achieve, which means that you might not hear of all the awesome, shocking and exciting places that adventurous people want to see.

Perfect for: culture, history and architecture buffs, a detailed overview, general planning

Professional Travel Writers

Photo by Tammy Burns

One thing that you can be sure of with major guidebooks like Lonely Planet, Frommers or Rough Guide is that the authors have made a serious effort to give you detailed info on the destination. They also have more freedom to add their personal opinions compared to official tourism sites. Apart from a few scandals in the industry like Thomas Kohnstamm’s book “Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?” guidebooks are generally reliable and give a good overview. Most of the well-known titles also have some kind of a website, however the usability is often poor because the main business model is to sell paperback books.

Even though professional travel writers are generally seasoned travellers, they’re still merely tourists as they spend only a brief time at each destination. This means mistakes that locals would never make often slip through –Vilsandi-Viljandi, potato-potahto. Another shortcoming is outdated information – no publisher can afford to send someone to every destination every month.

Perfect for: longer trips, practical information, planning your route

Fellow Travellers

The world’s biggest travel site TripAdvisor and many others like it rely on user reviews and ratings to make up most of the content. Many people value the opportunity to share their experiences with other travellers and to read about the experiences of other travellers – if many people think something is excellent, it can’t be too bad. For example all of the top restaurants in Tallinn are also highly rated by travellers.

Since TripAdvisor makes a restaurant or hotel expert out of all of us, it’s natural that most of the top rated places are also the most commonly visited and easily found spots. TA’s algorithm takes the total number of reviews into account as well, so tiny places off the beaten track are rarely found in their top 20. This means that thousands of tourists walk the same path and authentic local experiences remain hidden. The misuse of TripAdvisor is another highly discussed topic because there is no way of determining whether a review is written by a real customer or a mean competitor.

Perfect for: short visits, seeing the highlights, avoiding risky decisions

Friends’ Recommendations

Photo by mashable.com

The more time we spend on social networking sites, the more opportunity we have to share travel experiences with friends and acquaintances, be it through status updates, photos or check-ins. Several travel apps like Gogobot also allow you to get recommendations from friends. This works on the assumption that your friends are like you – that you share common interests and tastes. Foursquare and Facebook Places also allow you to see where friends go and how they liked it.

Perfect for: socially active people, trustworthy recommendations, sharing experiences with friends

Local People

In 1972 Cohen wrote a research paper on the sociology of tourism and divided travellers into categories according to their willingness to step into the unknown and experience life as a local. It is for the curious minority that several sites have decided to advertise destinations through the eyes of locals who have lived in their city for years. These sites don’t list the typical tourist attractions, but instead places that locals themselves have grown to love. Since local opinions are based on more than one visit, the information is more consistent and personal than a review by someone who happened to stop by once. This market used to be served only by Spotted by Locals until we launched our travel app in January 2013.

If you want to eat the same food as you do in your home country or if you only have enough time for the highlights, you should probably steer clear of local advice. But then again, it’s natural for a first-timer in Paris to want to see the Eiffel Tower.

Perfect for: travellers who want to experience local life, avoiding the tourist traps of big cities (and tourists)

When you next plan a trip and browse through different travel apps, ask yourself what you expect from your experience. Are you visiting a destination for the
first time, or is it a repeat visit? How long do you have? Do you want to see the “best of” or do you want to dive deep into local life by stepping off the beaten track?