1. #Helpme Travel Forums GLOBAL results June 2014

2. Key messages 1.Allianz Global Assistance pursues their #Helpme observatory, this time to analyse the impact of the Internet, forums and social networks on travellers' habits and behaviors, to detect travellers’ main concerns when planning a trip. The world’s most discussed topics illustrates travellers’ interests in the following three key themes: –Travelling abroad (airlines – work, live and study abroad) –Finding a travel companion = travelling alone safely –Travelling on a budget (bargain – camping - cruises - loyalty and mileage programmes) 2. This study shows that a very wide variety of topics is discussed in each country 1.59 different topics in the Top 10 of 11 countries 2.38 topics appeared in a single country 3.Examples: Travelling with parents (China) Diving (Germany) Mountains (Poland) Guides, drivers and taxi drivers (Spain) Volunteer work (the Netherlands) … 3.Understanding the influence and evolution of local needs or cultures versus globalisation offers Allianz Global Assistance with opportunities to optimise its global processes…to meet specific local demands

3. Summary Australia 1 Loyalty and mileage programmes 2 Air transport & airlines 3 Roadtrips 4 The must-see locations 5 Traveling alone 6 Bargain travel 7 Travelling with technology 8 Looking for a travel companion 9 Travel tips 10 Photo/video Austria 1 Air transport & airlines 2 Camping 3 Travel agencies 4 Rights and laws 5 Outstanding destinations 6 Sea travel and cruises 7 Health 8 Party 9 Sports 10 wellbeing China 1 Travelling with parents 2 Looking for a travel companion 3 Photo/video 4 Equipment 5 Outdoor activities 6 Fee based activities 7 Snow sports 8 Travelling in China 9 Travelling by car 10 Sea travel and cruises Europe 1 Air transport & airlines 2 Looking for a travel companion 3 Sea travel and cruises 4 Camping 5 Travel agencies 6 Bargain travel 7 Rights and laws 8 Travelling with children 9 Equipment 10 Photo/video France 1 All-Inclusive hotels and packages 2 Sea travel and cruises 3 Air transport & airlines 4 Work, study and live abroad 5 Paperwork 6 Hiking, trekking and adventure 7 Bike tours 8 Travelling with children 9 Photo/video 10 Looking for a travel companion Germany 1 Air transport & airlines 2 Travel agencies 3 Rights and laws 4 Sea travel and cruises 5 Looking for a travel companion 6 Health 7 Party 8 Diving 9 Equipment 10 Transport Italy 1 Bargain travel 2 Travel advice 3 Looking for a travel companion 4 Food and restaurants 5 Countryside holidays 6 Sea travel and cruises 7 Air transport & airlines 8 Holidays excluding air transportation 9 Travel disappointment 10 Work, study and live abroad Poland 1 Mountains 2 Holiday camps, organised tours 3 Travelling with children 4 Travel stories 5 Sea travel and cruises 6 Air transport & airlines 7 Looking for a travel companion 8 Travelling around the world 9 Equipment 10 Photo/video Spain 1 Air transport & airlines 2 Planning a travel alone 3 Guides, drivers and taxi drivers 4 Looking for a travel companion 5 Deals, bargains and packages 6 Travel complaints and bad experience 7 Travelling with children 8 Travel agencies 9 Sea travel and cruises 10 Complaints and bad experience on cruises The Netherlands 1 Looking for a travel companion 2 Camping 3 Volunteer work 4 Work and live abroad 5 Travellers news 6 Experiments and evaluations 7 Travelling around the world 8 Second hand travel equipment and housing 9 Study abroad 10 Au pair UK 1 Air transport & airlines 2 Equipment 3 Holiday travel 4 Climate conditions 5 Snow sports 6 Roadtrips 7 Traveling alone 8 Bargain travel 9 Travelling by train 10 Sea travel and cruises USA 1 Loyalty and mileage programmes 2 Safety/security travel 3 Air transport & Airlines² 4 Bargain travel 5 Travelling with technology 6 Food and restaurants 7 Car rental programmes/partners 8 Travellers news 9 Online travel booking and bidding agencies 10 Equipment World 1 Air transport & Airlines 2 Looking for a travel companion 3 Sea travel and cruises 4 Bargain travel 5 Camping 6 Loyalty and mileage programmes 7 Travel agencies 8 Equipment 9 Work, study and live abroad 10 Rights and laws

4. We selected forums on Google, pretending to be the average Internet user browsing the Web for information on travel. We used the following search terms: ‘forum + tourism’, ‘forum + travel’, and ‘forum + holidays’. We selected only the most highly referenced forums that met the following criteria: popularity as measured by Google ranking, forums with a dedicated space for tourism, presence of cross-cutting topics (as opposed to topics based on destination), and lastly, forums containing comments coming from the nationals of the countries being analysed. When the nationality of a forum’s users was uncertain, these forums were excluded. We selected 5 to 10 forums per country, depending on the results and on the size of each country. Several million comments from the past five years were analysed in the selected forums, addressing a large variety of topics. Methodology

5. Modify last sentence: « … We require the presence of a « transversal topic »

6. 1.Air transport & airlines 2.Looking for a travel companion 3.Sea travel and cruises 4.Bargain travel 5.Camping 6.Loyalty and mileage programmes 7.Travel agencies 8.Equipment 9.Work, study and live abroad 10.Rights and laws Top 10 World

7. 1.Air transport & Air Companies 2.Look for a travel companion 3.Sea travel and cruises 4.Camping 5.Travel agencies 6.Bargain travel 7.Rights and laws 8.Travelling with children 9.Equipment 10.Photo/video Top 10 Europe

8. 1.Loyalty and mileage programmes 2.Air transport & airlines 3.Road trips 4.Must-see locations 5.Travelling alone 6.Bargain travel 7.Travelling with technology 8.Looking for a travel companion 9.Travel tips 10.Photo/video Top 10 Australia

9. 1.Air transport & airlines 2.Camping 3.Travel agencies 4.Rights and laws 5.Outstanding destinations 6.Sea travel and cruises 7.Health 8.Party 9.Sports 10.Wellbeing Top 10 Austria

10. 1.Travelling with parents 2.Looking for a travel companion 3.Photo/video 4.Equipment 5.Outdoor activities 6.Fee-based activities 7.Snow sports 8.Travelling in China 9.Travelling by car 10.Sea travel and cruises Top 10 China

11. 1.All-Inclusive hotels and packages 2.Sea travel and cruises 3.Air transport & airlines 4.Work, study and live abroad 5.Paperwork 6.Hiking, trekking and adventure 7.Bike tours 8.Travelling with children 9.Photo/video 10.Looking for a travel companion Top 10 France

12. 1.Air transport & airlines 2.Travel agencies 3.Rights and laws 4.Sea travel and cruises 5.Looking for a travel companion 6.Health 7.Party 8.Diving 9.Equipment 10.Transport Top 10 Germany

13. 1.Bargain travel 2.Travel advice 3.Looking for a travel companion 4.Food and restaurants 5.Countryside holidays 6.Sea travel and cruises 7.Air transport & airlines 8.Holidays excluding air transportation 9.Travel disappointment 10.Work, study and live abroad Top 10 Italy

14. 1.Mountains 2.Holiday camps, organised tours 3.Travelling with children 4.Travel stories 5.Sea travel and cruises 6.Air transport & airlines 7.Looking for a travel companion 8.Travelling around the world 9.Equipment 10.Photo/video Top 10 Poland

15. 1.Air transport & airlines 2.Planning a journey alone 3.Guides, drivers and taxi drivers 4.Looking for a travel companion 5.Deals, bargains and packages 6.Travel complaints and bad experience 7.Travelling with children 8.Travel agencies 9.Sea travel and cruises 10.Complaints and bad experience on cruises Top 10 Spain

16. 1.Looking for a travel companion 2.Camping 3.Volunteer work 4.Work and live abroad 5.Travellers’ news 6.Experiments and evaluations 7.Travelling around the world 8.Second hand travel equipment and housing 9.Study abroad 10.Au pair Top 10 The Netherlands

17. 1.Air transport & airlines 2.Equipment 3.Holiday travel 4.Climate conditions 5.Snow sports 6.Road trips 7.Travelling alone 8.Bargain travel 9.Travelling by train 10.Sea travel and cruises Top 10 UK

18. 1.Loyalty and mileage programmes 2.Safety/security travel 3.Air transport & airlines 4.Bargain travel 5.Travelling with technology 6.Food and restaurants 7.Car rental programmes/partners 8.Travellers’ news 9.Online travel booking and bidding agencies 10.Equipment Top 10 United States