By Neil Hardy, Chief Commercial Officer, digitaltravel.io
It was my first visit for a while to the World Travel Market event and digitaltravel.io attended on the back of our recent ‘game-changing’ news about developing a bespoke mobile app for Hays Travel.
The news of our travel ‘one stop shop’ app for the UK’s biggest independent travel agent had clearly cut through, right into the heart of our market, and many of those we met at London’s ExCel arena had seen it in the media and were keen to see it in action and talk about having something similar for their own operation.
Stats and apps
It’s easy to understand why. There is not a single aspect of travel that has not been profoundly impacted by mobiles, from booking flights and accommodation via smartphones to reviewing attractions. Recent data by Statista suggest that over the last five years, travel apps’ global revenue has tripled in size, exceeding $1.2bn in 2023.
Statista’s figures show that global revenue in the travel segment of the app market has been forecast to increase continuously from last year to 2027 by $0.8bn (+64 percent). According to a study focusing on travel and hospitality websites worldwide, mobile users accounted for most online visitors in that market in 2023. That year, mobiles generated nearly 68 per cent of all the online traffic in the travel and hospitality segment.
After the Covid-19 affected years, it is clear that the travel sector has bounced back in a big way and that optimism gave a real buzz to WTM. Travel is a resilient industry, of course, and ever more determined to meet a soaring demand from customers with new innovation and technology to drive that forward.
At WTM, we found a big demand for apps, because they provide the service that customers are seeking and have become familiar with in their everyday life – ‘is there an app for that?’. This is about seamless digital experiences that include inspiration, deals and personalised recommendations, an easy booking process with reminders and push notifications – which have an exceptional click through rate. If a travel agent or travel company has this, it can create enduring brand loyalty.
Show me you know me
An app helps travel companies show a customer that they know what they are interested in, that the data that has been handed over has been used to generate something they want. Most of the people I spoke to understand that an app makes it easier for the customer’s booking and travel journey. An app helps them show a customer that they know what they are interested in, that the data that has been handed over has been used to generate something they want.
So, the buzz word at WTM was ‘AI’ and how we can use it to streamline operations or enhance customer experience, provide curated content from the web and help travel agents ignite their strengths using technology in the right way. Travel agents are good at what they do but often they don’t have the technical expertise to build an app. That’s where digitaltravel.io comes in and we found a lot of interest across the two days.
Catch ups and introductions
WTM is not just a place to do business with people from across the globe, but also a knowledge exchange with excellent speaker sessions, as well as multiple opportunities to network. We did our fair share of that, most notably at the Traveltek partner dinner, a really successful networking event where we caught up with existing clients and met with potential new ones excited to find out how we might collaborate.
WTM London was a successful and well attended event that proved that the industry is harnessing the power of technology to take it to the next level, and everyone, especially digitaltravel.io, is looking forward to the future.
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