15 Mind-Blowing Stats About Digital Trends In Travel And Hospitality
Article by Giselle Abramovich / Senior & Strategic Editor at CMO.com
For travel and hospitality brands, providing superb experiences starts long before their customers’ trips ever begin.
No surprise, consumers are relying more and more on digital channels and platforms for all of their travel needs, from researching to booking. The following stats show just how much of a role digital plays in both the lives of travelers and the companies that service them.
Trends
1. More consumers are using smartphones to explore destinations and products. Mobile accounts for 37% of travelers shopping for flights and 43% for accommodations. However, only 25% of those surveyed said they book accommodations on their smartphones, while only 18% said they book airline tickets on their smartphones. (Source: Phocuswire)
2. This year, digital travel sales are expected to reach $198 billion. More than 140 million U.S. adults will research a trip online. (Source: Social Media Today)
3. When figuring out their travel plans, more than 60% of travelers said their budgets were a key factor, and they look for deals before making a decision. More than half the travelers from the U.S., Australia, the U.K., and Canada said social content featuring deals and promotions influenced their decisions. (Source: Expedia)
4. As brands work to make themselves visible to travelers, they are now spending 61% of their marketing budgets on online channels. That number is even higher for online travel brands such as OTAs, which allocate 73% of their spend to digital. (Source: Phocuswire)
Related: Destinations are Using Automation to Promote Events and Showcase Their Local Businesses
5. Social media’s role in the travel journey can’t be ignored. Fifty-five percent of people like social media pages related to trips they are planning. (Source: Webpage FX)
6. Additionally, 52% of Facebook users said that a friend’s travel photos have inspired their own travel plans. (Source: Webpage FX)
7. Fifty percent of travel and hospitality companies today are gathering and using real-time data; 47% are using automated personalization. (Source: Adobe)
8. Just 18% of executives at travel and hospitality brands said they believe their company is a digitally mature organization. (Source: Adobe)
9. Only a tiny percentage of check-ins (4%) and check-outs (1%) occur through mobile apps, but when it is used, it is associated with higher guest satisfaction. (Source: J.D. Power & Associates)
10. Guests who download and use a hotel’s mobile app are more satisfied and have greater loyalty to that brand. While only 19% of all guests have downloaded a hotel app, 70% of rewards members have done so. (Source: J.D. Power & Associates)
11. During the travel research process, 43% of consumers said they use their smartphones to look for accommodations, and 76% said they use their desktops computer. Twenty-five percent of consumers said they used their smartphones to book their accommodations, and 67% said they used their desktops. (Source: Social Media Today)
12. Seventy-eight perfect of travelers said informative content from destinations or travel brands can influence their decision-making process, and 46% said ads with informative content can be influential. (Source: Expedia)
Related: Create Engaging Stories with Content Marketing
13. Analysis of 321 million social engagements found at least eight of the largest hotels have tested some kind of virtual reality experience during the past 18 months. Most of these experiences were programs that paired VR devices with consumers’ mobile devices. (Source: Adobe Digital Insights)
14. Social mentions for travel and AR/VR-related experiences increased 13%. Social mentions about travel-related wearables also increased (44%). (Source: Adobe Digital Insights)
15. A whopping 83% of Millennials said they would let travel brands track their digital patterns if this would provide them with a more personalized experience. (Source: MDG Advertising)
