An American digital travel and tourism company that owns and operates several search and booking websites. Its flagship website, TripAdvisor.com, lists many accommodations in illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian and Syrian land.
TripAdvisor, headquartered in Needham, Massachusetts, is an American online travel and tourism company that owns and operates several search and booking websites. Its flagship website, TripAdvisor.com, claims to be "the world's largest travel guidance platform." Some of TripAdvisor's many subsidiaries include Bookatable, FlipKey, HouseTrip, TheFork, and Viator. It is controlled by holding company Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings.
TripAdvisor's flagship website, TripAdvisor.com, lists dozens of accommodations in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights. It includes at least 70 different attractions, tours, restaurants, cafés, hotels, and rental apartments in 27 illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, as reported by Amnesty International in 2018. Who Profits documented properties in at least five illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, and in at least eight illegal settlements in the occupied Golan Heights, as of 2017.
For many of its offerings, TripAdvisor acts as a booking agent and collects commissions. For example, the company handles bookings for Caliber 3, a self-described "counter-terrorism boot camp," located in an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. According to the activity's online description, visitors can expect to learn "the values which guide the Israeli Army, handling weapons, and counter-terror tactics." Other TripAdvisor websites, including FlipKey and Viator, also advertise or act as booking agents for listings in illegal settlements.
TripAdvisor's actions support the continued existence and expansion of Israel's illegal settlements, in violation of international law. The company was included on the 2020 United Nations database of companies doing business in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.
TripAdvisor also contributes to discrimination against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank who, unlike their Israeli neighbors or foreign tourists, cannot access properties listed in the settlements. The company's involvement also raises concerns of pillage, as it gains a portion of rental fees from listings in illegal settlements without the freely given consent of the legal landowners.
- In November 2020, San Francsico State University's student government passed a resolution calling for the university to pull out of investments in companies that do business in Israeli settlements, referencing the 112 companies linked to the illegal settlements in Palestine as listed by the United Nations.
- In October 2020, Fresno State University’s student government voted in favor of a divestment resolution calling for the university to divest from the 112 companies linked to the illegal settlements in Palestine, as listed by the United Nations.