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Mobile travel bookings up by a fifth in the first half of 2014

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By John McCarthy, Opinion Editor

September 17, 2014 | 3 min read

Holiday-goers are increasingly using smartphones to purchase holidays, with companies seeing a 20 per cent rise in mobile bookings in the first half of 2014, according to a report from performance advertising company Criteo.

Mobile bookings are up generally - except in the hotel industry

The firm’s Travel Flash Report claimed that mobile and tablet bookings jumped up by 20 per cent, in contrast to desktop bookings which only increased by two per cent. Furthermore, the study found that smartphones and tablets were responsible for 21 per cent of all holiday bookings.

Criteo also found that there was a difference in user spending power across different devices. IPad owners, on average, spent over $600 more on holiday packages than users of other devices although Android users set aside the most for flights.

Mobile users were 21 per cent more likely to book air travel, and mobile car rentals were up by over a tenth. Against the trend however was hotel bookings, which was 30 per cent more growth on desktops than on tablets and mobiles.

At a regional level, the Asia Pacific sector led the way with mobile travel bookings accounting for 20 per cent of the area's travel industry, double that of Germany and Brazil.

Latin America also saw a substantial 42 per cent boost although it must be noted that Brazil hosted the 2014 World Cup this summer, an event which the firm believes bloated the overall result.

Jason Morse, vice president, mobile product at Criteo, said: "Mobile is the driving force behind the exponential growth in online travel booking and sales, and that’s only set to continue in the second half of this year and beyond."

"With smartphones and tablets in nearly every consumer’s hands today, travel marketers need to think strategically about developing a highly effective omni-channel marketing experience. That means ensuring the entire consumer experience - from the ads to shopping carts - is mobile optimised."

Morse added: "Determining budget across desktop and mobile must be completely fluid because consumers are making decisions in real-time, requiring that the booking experience be streamlined and integrated with mobile-friendly payment systems to ease the all-important path to purchase."

Criteo has over 1,000 employees in 17 offices across the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific, serving over 6,000 advertisers worldwide.

Earlier this summer, a Millennial Media and comScore study, found that almost half of travellers purchase flights on a mobile device.

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