WEBSITES such as TripAdvisor could provide a huge boost to the Scottish economy as consumers become more reliant on peer-to-peer feedback.

Barclays is urging businesses to ensure they have procedures in place to effectively manage their listings on feedback sites after revealing that the UK hospitality and leisure industry could contribute an additional £3.2bn to the UK economy over the course of the next decade, if it fully utilises customer feedback.

In Scotland, 58 per cent of business owners explicitly credited online customer feedback with increasing trade, slightly ahead of the UK average. Two-thirds of businesses said not only will that feedback become a more important marketing tool, but managing that feedback will become increasingly important.

Ally Scott, managing director, Barclays Corporate Banking, Scotland, said: “The use of feedback by customers is not only a growing trend, but a potentially valuable source of information for the business community, and there is even more that the local hospitality industry can do to capitalise on this opportunity.”

Barclays Feedback Economy report concluded that a more customer-responsive sector will attract more visitors, increase spend per head from these customers and have wider supply chain benefits.

The report finds that if businesses across the hospitality and leisure spectrum put processes in place to better manage customer feedback, it will create a more responsive sector, attracting more overseas visitors and encouraging domestic visitors to stay longer and spend more.

The vast majority of businesses (75 per cent) plan to make changes to their businesses over the next five years to exploit the increasing importance of online feedback websites. More than a third (36 per cent) will be investing in specialist staff training to manage customer feedback, close to a quarter (22%) expect to appoint a dedicated staff member or team and five per cent anticipate working with an external consultancy or specialist feedback management agency.

“Our research reveals that those working in the UK hospitality and leisure industry feel that faster, easier and simpler feedback mechanisms are a good thing for the industry – resulting in more agile businesses better able to serve the evolving needs of consumers,” said Mr Scott.

Eighty per cent of the Scottish hospitality industry said that feedback has been beneficial for their business and three quarters think it has been beneficial for the sector as a whole. And for businesses wary of the impact of public feedback forums, 71 per cent of the sector in Scotland said that published customer feedback attracts more customers than it puts off.

Malcolm Roughead, chief executive of VisitScotland, said: “We are embracing technological advances and forging innovative partnerships with industry leaders such as TripAdvisor, Google, Booking.com and TrustYou. It is critical that the tourism industry embraces new technology and innovation if it wants to compete in a competitive global market. We are also providing digital platforms for every business, large or small, to take their message across the world.”

According to the Barclay’s survey, TripAdvisor is seen to be the most relevant online feedback site, with 60 per cent of respondents citing the website as being relevant to their business.

The survey also found that traditional guidebooks are seen as relevant by just 23 per cent of visitors, though professional reviews by newspapers and magazines fare better, rated as relevant by a third of the sector.

Intermediary sites such as Booking.com and OpenTable are also already seen as increasingly important in driving trade, with a 67 per cent of all hotels and bed and breakfasts and 28 per cent of restaurants rating these sites as relevant to their business.