Time For The Travel Industry To Act?

An ever-increasing proportion of European smartphone owners are using applications – some 44% in May 2010 – with 64% of those who used a travel application having a smartphone. This growth, according to comScore, in all types of mobile application use offers an ever-broadening opportunity for the travel industry to engage with consumers in creative ways that deliver significant value.

According to comScore, the growth in highly capable smartphones in the market has helped to drive consumer interaction with travel services via their mobile phones: whilst accounting for only 25% of the installed base of active phones in Europe, 54% of consumers accessing travel services did so from a smartphone in May 2010.

The number of European consumers accessing travel services via smartphones grew by 125% year-on-year to May 2010.

Around 26m European mobile users accessed maps on their device in May 2010, with the availability of free navigation systems fuelling a 100% year-on-year growth in this number. This increased use of mobile devices whilst travelling offers a growing opportunity for the travel industry to engage with consumers through their phones for marketing and to offer relevant, localised services.

9.8m Europeans accessed travel information via their mobile in May 2010, representing 4.3 percent of European mobile users. The most popular method of access is through mobile internet sites with nearly 60 percent (5.8m) engaging through their browser. The next most popular access method is through SMS followed by mobile applications; European consumers were almost 3 times as likely to accessed travel services via a browser, compared to an application. However, accessing travel sites via application is growing fastest of the three methods when compared to one year ago. There is significant growth in the use of travel planning and booking services by European mobile users – usage of Lastminute.com and Expedia combined grew 96% year-on-year to May 2010 but still only accounted for 1.2% of all mobile consumers. This indicates that there is still considerable opportunity for expansion in services for travel planning and booking via mobile phones.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mobile Users Eager for Travel

Nearly one-quarter of hoteliers will create an app in 2010

Many smartphone users are interested in apps that will help them on the go, and travel-related applications fit the  bill.

According to data from Compete, more than four in 10 smartphone owners would find trip planning apps useful if they notified them of schedule and rate changes, consolidated itineraries or helped manage loyalty programs.

Nearly two-fifths of smartphone owners reported doing at least some of their leisure travel research on their mobile device, and more than one-quarter completed at least some of their bookings on their phone. In addition, one-fifth of smartphone owners were interested in receiving travel Website advertisements on their device.

While the industry had been slow to respond to consumer interest, app development has heated up. It is believed that almost one-quarter of hoteliers worldwide are planning to develop an iPhone app this year.

Many also plan to get on board with SMS marketing, mobile sites and mobile booking capabilities. That should help them get a piece of the increased bookings expected via mobile this year;  it is predicted US travelers will spend $76 million on direct domestic hotel bookings through a mobile device.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When it comes to having Apps created, don't be fooled into believing its all about iPhone apps. This next article shows clearly what is happening with Smartphones AND the majority of people will for some time still have 'ordinary' mobiles. You must cater for a FULL mobile presence and iWord can create that for you. Email Peter@iword.ie

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The smartphone applications market grew by more than US$2.2 billion around the world in the first six months of 2010, up from US$1.7 billion for the full year of 2009.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An article I recently posted on EzineArticles.com, the stats relate to Ireland but apply in a similar way to most other 'Developed' countries

<sub>The OECD, the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development have released statistics relating to computers in households and broadband penetration to end of Dec 2009.

Households with access to computer at home, PC, portable, hand held 72.8%
Households with broadband access 53.7%
Total number of broadband subscribers in Ireland 870,562 (out of a population of 4Mil!)
Fixed line broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants 19.5


Interesting reading! So with all the advertising that is promoting websites around us, the number of households with a decent access to information i.e. broadband is only 53.7% Yes, people in a lot of cases will be able to access the internet at work but a lot of workplaces forbid it AND due to the nature of the work, a lot of workplaces don’t have computers

But this figure will rise rapidly I hear you say!
I believe this to be a wrong assumption.
There are a LOT of people that cannot pay for broadband due to the recession and the troubles ICE broadband encountered bore this out i.e. people are stopping paying for this 'luxury' of having broadband in the home.

So where does that leave advertisers?

Everybody has a mobile phone</sub>

<sub>iPhones, IPads, Smartphones are the future make no mistake about it.
For a huge amount of people, accessing the internet in their hands in areas that they can connect free (like in many hotels and coffee shops) is the answer

Texting is THE best communication method, being able to send messages of up to 450 characters onto mobile devices so a person does not have to depend on the internet.

Doing what some progressive companies are doing is the answer, that is sending information of 430 characters approximately and including a mobile website at the end. This is THE way to do it now especially to a large database of customers

So now the question arises how many companies have their websites enabled so that they can be seen properly on all mobile devices? Very very few is the answer.
Also, how many have developed an iPhone App and an App for the Android?
Little or none!

Yet people with iPhones LOVE their phone and Apps are second nature to them.
AND, by and large people with iPhones would have more disposable income
AND they love to watch video on their iPhones and interact.

How will you be spending your digital advertising budget?
Advertising to as many as possible by way of SMS and mobile website and having a full mobile presence OR to a lot of people that have no access or limited chances of getting access to a computer with a broadband connection

Ponder over these questions

On your computer, how often do you look at Facebook, Twitter, Digg and all other social networking sites in a day?
On your mobile, how often do you look at Facebook, Twitter, Digg and all other social networking sites in a day?

If an email is sent to the average person, how soon are they likely to see it?
Maybe they will not see it due to spam blockers
Maybe they will not see it for another week as they are not in the habit of watching for emails coming in

If a text came to the average person's mobile how soon would they see it?
If it comes in they will be guaranteed to see it, and immediately

Mobile Makes More Sense Than Anything Else

Everybody Has A Mobile Phone!</sub>

WE WILL GIVE YOU THAT FULL MOBILE PRESENCE.

EMAIL Peter@iword.ie  or text PETER to 51444 standard rate text

to discuss your requirements