The number of travelers who have smartphones and tablets has grown exponentially in the past two years, according to MMGY Global, a travel marketing agency, and Harrison Group.
The office is no longer where many workers feel at their most productive, a new survey of European business travellers shows. Almost three quarters (73%) see journey time as enabling them to catch-up and improve their productivity.
By using technology, 88% of business travellers are able to get ahead and remain productive by catching up on email (31% of the time), researching information (24% of the time) and editing content (22% of the time). But the greatest barriers to productivity are lack of connectivity (62%) and being unable to get remote access to normal work tools or applications (51%).
And the aspirations of corporate travellers are beginning to exceed the capabilities of their devices. Despite prolific use of technology, eight out of ten feel restricted:
– 59% find internet connectivity slow or inconsistent;
– 56% say device battery life is too short;
– 51% find the performance of their device too slow;
– 50% say connecting to the internet or their mobile network is too expensive or difficult.
Among US leisure travelers with a household income of at least $50,000 who took a trip at least 75 miles from home in 2012, 62% used smartphones this year, and 43% used tablets.
There’s not much better use of mobile devices while travelling than searching for information on things to do. According to a Q4 2012 study from Google and Nielsen, US smartphone users averaged 2.20 actions after conducting a mobile travel search, trailing only the beauty and automotive industries among all categories included in the report.
Furthermore, comScore noted that nearly two-thirds of local business searches in December 2012 for hotel and travel information were non specific, suggesting that people looking for travel information on the local level are seeking suggestions, rather than particular information about something they’re planning to do.
Having that information available via mobile search is imperative, and research from Compete, Inc. found that travellers are apt to look to trusted apps when it comes to making in-destination decisions. According to a January 2013 survey, 43% of US smartphone users had travel apps, and 30% had two or more such apps.
Despite the opportunity that hotels and other travel marketers have to connect with travelers via their smartphones, a survey of US hotel executives overseeing worldwide properties showed that services other than making purchases—such as location-centric information and on-property amenities—were far less common. While nearly three-fourths of these apps provided reservations capabilities, most other mobile features were in use by less than half of properties.
As smartphones become ubiquitous among travellers destination marketing organizations (DMOs) and small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) can leverage opportunities to attract and retain customers by offering mobile features that guide travellers through their destination, not just to their destination.
