Travelport global survey highlights different digital traveler habits

• When planning a trip:
  • 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
• When booking a trip:
  • Over 33% of travelers book their trip on a mobile device
  • 61% avoid hotels that charge for WiFi
• When on the trip:
  • 70% of travelers believe that digital boarding passes make traveling so much easier
  • 60% of travelers feel that a good digital experience is important when choosing an airline
  • 44% of travelers rely on their smartphone at their destination
• When at the destination:
  • Travelers use an average of 16 different categories of apps when traveling
  • 75% of travelers leave reviews on review sites

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.

The Digital Traveler Rankings

The report also includes the world's first Digital Traveler Rankings, with India crowned champions as the country with the most digitally-advanced travelers. The standings are based on a combination of the main indicators of digital usage for travel-related purposes by travelers in each country. For example, those from India 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%.

The countries are ranked as follows:

Gordon Wilson, President and CEO of Travelport, commented, "These findings demonstrate the significance of digital tools for travelers 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 traveler 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 is publishing separate detailed country reports as well as four regional reports based on the same data.