49% of travellers purchase flights on a mobile device, finds Millenial Media & comScore study

The study also looked at the process and researching of travel options and ideas. It found searching for hotel information is the most common activity, done by 83 per cent of smartphone and 74 per cent of tablet travellers.

Flight information is the second most frequently researched content as done by 69 per cent of smartphone and 65 per cent of tablet users.

“The high percentage of travellers and the number of activities being performed while traveling is evidence that mobile travellers are highly engaged with their devices while on the go,” said Zac Pinkham, managing director, EMEA Millennial Media, of the report.

“Consequently they expect a mobile-friendly experience when accessing travel content. Seamless integration across devices, such as saving account information, mobile boarding passes, and consolidated itineraries gives travellers everything they need to stay connected on the go, which in turn helps attract, engage, and retain loyal mobile travel consumers.

When it comes to targeting travellers to use mobile devices, airlines were found to be the biggest advertiser on mobile, running campaigns to promote new routes and destinations, fare sales, and upgraded cabins.

Booking sites and apps were the second biggest advertiser on mobile relating to travel, accounting for 22 per cent of spend, followed by country/city tourism boards (14 per cent), and amusement parks/attractions (12 per cent)

However, despite 83 percent of travellers accessing hotel content on mobile, hotels only accounted for 13 percent of mobile campaign spend.

The insights were based upon a study Millennial Media commissioned with comScore and conducted between September and December 2013 using an average 32,088 mobile impression over the three month period and 6,379 on tablet.