TripAdvisor announced plans to launch a new site and mobile experience later in the year. It aims to become more personalized and connected to the travel community, with social tools to better plan and book. The new platform allows users to follow brands, social media influencers, publishers and friends to find relevant news. Additionally, a Trips feature allows users to create in-depth travel guides and itineraries, either privately or to share.

“TripAdvisor is poised to disrupt the travel industry once again as we create a more personalized and connected community,” said Stephen Kaufer, CEO and co-founder, TripAdvisor. “The new TripAdvisor is the one travel site that brings together social-assistive tools, amazing content and our existing booking capabilities to merge the joy of planning and discovery together into a single experience. We are assisting our members at each step of their journey as we become a more personalized, inspirational and useful TripAdvisor.”

The new platform is in beta, but more than 500 influencers, brands and publishers are involved with the new TripAdvisor.

The brand based its changes on its growing impact. One study showed TripAdvisor influenced $546 billion in tourism spending last year. Another found 60 percent of travelers visit TripAdvisor during the travel planning and booking process and 74 percent use TripAdvisor when booking on hotel websites.