PhoCusWright: Five trends in technology use among European travelers

The growth of consumer technology has created a wealth of opportunities for the European travel industry. Mobile devices have redefined the digital rules of traveler engagement, providing travel companies with new ways to stimulate demand and drive bookings.

PhoCusWright’s latest study, “2014 European Traveler Technology Survey Report” (the “ Report ” ), is designed to help travel companies understand the connection between consumer technology and vacation travel in France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Here are five key trends highlighted in the report:

Tablets: No Longer Just for the Young and Tech-Savvy

Young consumers are often the first to adopt new technologies. Millennials were the first to use Facebook, they were the first to use Twitter, they were the quickest to adopt smartphones. But this new report shows an exception, with tablets attracting an older audience in Europe.

The report said that the largest number of tablet users in France are online travel planners aged 35-44, accounting for 54%, while in the UK, this age group accounts for 55% and in Germany, users aged 45-54 account for 45%.

There are several reasons for this trend. First, tablets are not cheap. It is difficult for millennials to buy these devices, especially after they have already bought laptops and smartphones.

Additionally, tablets offer a more familiar Internet experience for older, less tech-savvy consumers because they replicate the functionality of a PC on a larger screen, allowing for multi-window browsing and touchscreen operation.

Multi-device goes mainstream

European leisure travelers are increasingly tech-savvy, owning an average of 3.2 different devices each, with four in five owning a laptop, smartphone and tablet.

Younger travelers are less dependent on PCs, and overall, consumers are adopting new devices faster than they abandon them. Mobile devices have grown rapidly over the past few years, while PCs have remained relatively unchanged.

This suggests that travel companies recognize that the new generation of consumers is a " multi-device " generation, not just a " mobile " generation.

Consumers prefer tablets for daily shopping

Tablets surpass smartphones as a channel for purchasing and booking flights and hotels. Smartphone ownership is more common among travelers, but travelers who own tablets prefer to use their tablets to make purchases.

Last year, 71% of European air passengers used a tablet to search for flights, while only 65% ​​used a smartphone.

Marcello Gasdia, senior analyst for consumer research at PhoCusWright, said:

“ In a multi-device environment, it is important to understand which group of people are using which device. Device usage trends have a significant impact on online travel booking behavior.

“ Tablet usage has surged among older European travelers, with these devices becoming an important channel for purchases among this group. Travelers aged 35-55 are more likely to use tablets for travel bookings than millennials. ”

More than half of multi-device travelers use a tablet to research products or services they plan to purchase, while only 38% use a smartphone.

More and more mobile booking apps

European travelers generally prefer to use mobile websites on their mobile devices rather than downloading apps to make travel reservations. Although mobile websites are now dominant, this trend will not last long.

Change is gradual, but travel activities on mobile devices will become increasingly " app-based. "

Not only are millennials active in using smartphones to research and book travel, they are more likely to use travel apps than older travelers.

Travelers aged 18-34 use apps for about half of their travel planning activities. App usage decreases with age, with only 28% of travelers aged 65 and over using travel apps.

The small screen is still a problem

Despite the growth of mobile channels, PCs still dominate online travel bookings in Europe, with more than 80% of leisure travelers using a laptop or desktop computer to research travel destinations, purchase travel products or make reservations in the past 12 months.

Despite the growing reliance on mobile devices, desktop computers still dominate online travel activity for travelers of all ages, with 70% of European online travel planners using a desktop computer to research travel destinations, purchase travel products or make reservations.

Apparently, using a smartphone is not as comfortable as using a PC when making travel reservations. Some people cite the small screen as the biggest annoyance. Half of mobile travel planners in Europe think that the smartphone screen is too small when making travel reservations and purchases.

Note: This article was written by Mary Russell, a contributor to PhoCusWright.

Source: Travel Weekly