Case Study_#1. Travel Itinerary and Planning App UX Research

7 min readJul 7, 2024

#Travel Itinerary #Trip Planner

During my university years, I traveled to many countries, including Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Malaysia, on independent trips. However, once I started working, I wasn’t able to travel as much. Currently, I’m in Canada for a refresh, and it has been exactly one month. Based on my experiences, I’ll be presenting a project related to travel itineraries.✈️

[Background and Context]

When we go on independent trips to different countries or regions, we often create our own itineraries. However, finding tourist spots isn’t always easy, and it’s also challenging to remember the locations and information for each place. This is why I want to create an app that helps travelers easily find and check popular spots and travel itineraries.

Before I came to Canada, I had saved locations I wanted to visit, but I struggled to find a good app to plan my daily trips. This led me to the idea of developing an app specifically for creating travel itineraries for independent travelers.

One problem I’ve identified is that travelers often struggle to find tourist spots and remember their locations and information while planning their trips. Especially, It’s difficult to track daily and overall travel itineraries conveniently.

Therefore, I aim to develop an app that integrates popular spots and travel itineraries in an easy-to-find and easy-to-check format. The ultimate goal of this app is will offer a mobile itinerary feature that allows users to manage and view their daily travel plans.😃

This is the basis for my research. The app will have four key features:

Itinerary: Using Google Maps, users can explore travel locations, save places they want to visit, and check transportation options.
Sharing: Users can edit the itinerary with friends and save locations by capturing them.
Expenses: The app will allow users to track shared expenses used during the trip.
Diary: Users can write about and share their travel experiences.

These are the four key features I’m focusing on. These features will make planning and enjoying independent travel easier and more enjoyable.

[Methodology]

To demonstrate the four key features of my travel itinerary app, I conducted both qualitative user interviews and quantitative user surveys as part of my research methodology.

-User Interview-

The first methodology I employed was user interviews. I conducted two user interviews: one with a participant in colledge students and another with a friend.

I selected participants who travel frequently, enjoy checking local information, and like creating and sharing travel itineraries.

Before the interviews, I prepared seven questions to understand the users’ backgrounds and ten questions to delve into their travel experiences.

Summarizing the user interviews, the first participant’s purpose for traveling was to visit favorite places and find pleasure in those experiences. She uses Google Maps to save areas for her overall schedule and shares it as a screenshot. She expressed a need for a feature to check daily bills and, when traveling abroad, to check flight prices and overall expenses.

The second participant described her travel experiences as exciting and challenging because she enjoys exploring new places and facing new challenges. Safety is her top priority, as she avoids unsafe destinations. When traveling alone, she likes to make new friends. For safety reasons, she changes her Instagram pictures frequently.

The third participant prefers traveling with her sister over friends because it is more comfortable. She checks the weather of her travel destination, disliking days when it rains all day. Therefore, she checks the temperature, weather, and season before traveling. She usually uses Google Excel sheets for planning and exchanges images and links through a messenger app, though she finds it difficult to locate links in the messenger.

Despite their different travel styles, their needs were clear and helped shape the development of the app.

-UserSurvey-

The second methodology I used was a user survey. I created the survey questions, generated a QR code for the survey, and posted it on Instagram, resulting in 18 participants.

The survey included questions about age, gender, whether participants plan their itineraries, how often they do so, and their preferences.

Summarizing the user survey, 72% of respondents have planned their itineraries.

The most important factor when planning a trip is exploring travel destinations, with 44% of respondents prioritizing this. Recommendations and reviews are considered the most useful function for exploring travel destinations by 38% of respondents. Additionally, 77% of respondents want the ability to check and manage shared expenses while traveling.

However, 50% of respondents are not interested in writing and sharing their travel experiences. Given that half of the respondents don’t like recording their experiences, I will need to research this feature further to understand its potential value better.

This research provided valuable insights into user needs and preferences, guiding the development of the four key features of my travel itinerary app.

[Findings and Insights]

Based on user interviews and surveys, I began creating an affinity map to organize the information gathered. I grouped the data by attaching post-its to a wall, and the information naturally divided itself into several key categories.

The reasons for traveling were split into solo and group trips. This led to discussions about destinations and necessary information, such as food, places to visit, weather, travel distance, and services. There was also a clear need for features that would allow users to share and modify travel itineraries, as well as manage both shared and personal expenses.

-User Persona & Scenario. No.1-

Following this, I created user personas and scenarios based on the affinity map. The first persona, Alex, is a solo traveler who prefers to make friends during travel, travel cheaply, and explore local-based restaurants and areas.

Alex, utilizing a university break, plans a hiking trip to a distant country, seeking local cultural experiences and new friendships. Using Google Maps, Alex explores Malta for dining options, activities, and hiking trails but seeks an efficient way to store gathered information.

-User Persona & Scenario. No.2-

On the other hand, Sophia, the second persona, prefers traveling with friends or family and prioritizes comfort and safety. She enjoys visiting restaurants, hotels, and landmarks, and wants a way to schedule, revise, and check joint expenses together.

Sophia, in her second year of work, has saved up vacation days for a family trip to Virginia to celebrate her parents’ 30th anniversary. They chose Virginia for its safety and proximity. Her parents prefer famous landmarks and clean dining, while her sister enjoys photography and Instagram. Sophia found top restaurants but wonders how to share the itinerary with her sister.

[Conclusion]

Alex and Sophia have significantly different travel styles. This conclusion is supported by the personas and scenarios created. For Alex and Sophia, customized travel plans, local exploration features, and collaboration tools can effectively meet their needs.

By incorporating these strategies, the app can cater to diverse traveler needs, ensuring a satisfying experience for both solo and group travelers.

[Reflection]

Reflecting on the project, I have a few regrets regarding the user interviews and surveys. I was disappointed that I could not interview male users. While creating the personas, I realized the importance of including a male perspective on travel plans. Additionally, I wish I had conducted more user surveys to obtain more specific results.
Another challenge I faced was my proficiency in English and Figma. Forming sentences and speaking in English has been a continuous challenge for me.
Through this course, I learned how to use Figma. While I am not sure if I used it to its fullest potential, I am happy that my presentation turned out well.