VIRTUALTOURIST

'Virtualtourist' (VT) is a free, travel-oriented community website featuring user-contributed travel guides for locations worldwide.

Contents

Ratings & Rankings

Controversies about rankings and ratings

Page features

References

External links

Ratings & Rankings

Members of Virtualtourist write tips about places they have visited or lived, and are encouraged to rate the tips of fellow VTers for honesty, accuracy, writing style and helpfulness.

Controversies about rankings and ratings

Ratings that VTers receive from their fellow VTers can be (and sometimes are) arbitrarily and without warning changed by VT management. There have been many cases when, for unexplained reasons, all tips of some top VTers lost, from one day to another, one star, which resulted in their dropout of the Top VT Member List. This practice raises concerns about equal treatment of all VTers by the staff.

Page features

On each destination page, the following information is offered:

★ Local time and date

★ Number of members living there

★ Member tips

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★ Hotel reviews

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★ Things To Do

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★ Restaurant reviews

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★ Local Customs

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★ Nightlife

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★ Off the Beaten Path

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★ Tourist Traps

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★ Warnings or Dangers

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★ Transportation

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★ Packing Lists

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★ Shopping

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★ Sports Travel

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★ General Tips

★ Member pictures

★ City Map

★ Travel forums for each destination

★ Travel Pages of each member with unlimited space for writing and photographs

★ Member friends, member birthdays, VT mail, online/offline smiley feature
The website is operated by Virtualtourist, Inc., Westlake Village, California.

References

★ ''Time'': ''Recommended Travel Forum'' in 2003

★ Yahoo!: ''Most Popular Guide'' site in 2002

★ AOL: ''Editor's Pick'' in 2002

★ ''USA Today'': ''Hot Site'' in 2001

★ ''U.S. News'': ''Best of the Web'' Travel Site in 2001

★ Travel + Leisure: ''35 Best Travel Sites''

★ Yahoo!: ''Most Popular Destination Guide''

★ ''Newsweek'': ''Featured Travel Site''

External links

★ http://www.virtualtourist.com