INTERNATIONAL. Travelport has published the results of a Global Traveller Survey of 11,000 people worldwide that highlights the use of digital tools throughout their journey.
The travel commerce platform’s survey identified how travellers used smartphones, mobile apps, social media and other digital tools in four stages of the journey: planning, booking, the journey and at the destination.
Planning
- 81% use peer-to-peer reviews when researching a trip
- 47% use voice search, using devices such as Amazon Echo and Google Home, when researching a trip
- Nearly 25% of over 55 year olds use a smartphone to research a trip
Booking
- Over 33% of travellers book their trip on a mobile device
- 61% avoid hotels that charge for WiFi
The journey
- 70% of travellers believe that digital boarding passes make travelling easier
- 60% of travellers feel that a good digital experience is important when choosing an airline
- 44% of travellers rely on their smartphone at their destination
At the destination
- Travellers use an average of 16 different categories of apps on their journey
- 75% of travellers leave reviews on review sites
Travelport found there is a “love-hate” relationship with digital devices with 60% saying they would be lost without their smartphone whilst 43% also say they want to escape the digital world and switch off when away.
Global Digital Traveller Rankings
The report also ranked Digital Traveller’s by nationality, with India crowned as the country with the most digitally advanced travellers.
The rankings are based on a combination of the main indicators of digital usage for travel-related purposes by travellers in each country.
- Indian travellers typically use smartphones for booking and boarding a plane, with 82% saying digital boarding passes makes traveling easier, compared to a global average of 70%.
- 47% of Asia Pacific travellers share their experiences on social media
- China’s travellers topped the charts for being the biggest app-users with an average of 20 such services used during each trip – France and Japan are the world leaders for booking by computer at 87%
- Booking trips by smartphones varies widely from the highest level in Indonesia at 68% and the lowest in UK at 17%
Travelport President and CEO Gordon Wilson commented: “These findings demonstrate the significance of digital tools for travellers before and during their journeys. They highlight the need for the $7.6 trillion global travel and hospitality industry to adapt continually to provide responsive, relevant and timely services for customers. Whether young or old, and in whichever continent, providing relevant and timely digital tools and content is no longer an accessory but an essential means of reaching and satisfying the modern traveller from the moment they search to the moment they return from their trip.
“Travelport’s platform stands ready to provide the industry with the means to do this. As a technology company and as a world leader in digital and mobile capabilities, we aim to make the experience of selling, buying and managing travel continually better.”
Alongside the Global Report, Travelport has produced separate country reports as well as four regional reports based on the same data. The full survey can be found here.
