Travelport global survey highlights different digital traveler habits

LANGLEY, U.K., Nov. 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Travelport (NYSE: TVPT), the leading Travel Commerce Platform, published today the results of a Global Traveler Survey of 11,000 people worldwide that highlights the use of digital tools when planning, booking and experiencing a journey.

The main findings from the global report are:

• 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.

These, and an infographic, can all be downloaded via www.travelport.com/gdtr.

About the 2017 Global Digital Traveler Research

Travelport's Global Digital Traveler Research was an online survey utilizing Toluna Research's sample of travelers in August 2017. The research covered 19 countries globally and surveyed people who had taken at least one round trip flight last year. In total, there were 11,000 respondents from the 19 countries.

About Travelport (www.travelport.com)

Travelport (NYSE: TVPT) is the technology company which makes the experience of selling, buying and managing travel continually better.  It operates a travel commerce platform providing distribution, technology, payment and other solutions for the global travel and tourism industry.  The company facilitates travel commerce by connecting the world's leading travel providers with online and offline travel buyers in a proprietary business-to-business (B2B) travel marketplace.

Travelport has a leadership position in airline merchandising, hotel content and distribution, car rental, mobile commerce and B2B payment solutions.  The company also provides critical IT services to airlines, such as shopping, ticketing, departure control and other solutions.  With net revenue of over $2.3 billion in 2016, Travelport is headquartered in Langley, UK, has approximately 4,000 staff and is represented in 180 countries and territories.

Travelport Media Contacts:

Global

Julian Eccles
Vice President, PR and Corporate Communications
Tel: +44 (0)7720 409 374
julian.eccles@travelport.com 

Asia-Pacific

Syazanah Haniff
Corporate Communications Manager, APAC
t +65 8128 0967
syaz.haniff@travelport.com

Europe, Middle East and Africa

Henry Jakins
Head of PR and Communications, EMEA
t +971 50 107 0018
henry.jakins@travelport.com

Chris Boba
Corporate Communications Manager, EMEA
t +44 (0) 1753 288 691
chris.boba@travelport.com 

Americas

Bill Florence
Senior Corporate Communications Manager, Americas
t +1 770 563 5901
bill.florence@travelport.com

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SOURCE Travelport