As one of the segments within mobile consumers, travelers are increasingly comfortable and ready to plan, search and book their trips when they are already on the road, according to the study carried out by Expedia Media Solutions and comScore.
In plain language and easy to understand for businesses, this means that travelers are more receptive to mobile advertising and less reluctant about privacy, making them an interesting target for advertisers.
With a market like mobile, the destination of one of every ten dollars spent on online advertising (comScore data), analysts have concluded that companies that have an important market in this segment, must incorporate mobile advertising within their marketing mix.
Also, keep in mind that travelers use their smartphones and tablets to search and plan their trips. So:
- 86% of mobile planners had already decided their destinations when searching their mobile terminals
- 47% relied on recommendations from friends and family, and 40% relied on travel agencies to think about possible destinations.
Offers and promotions (64%), photographs (55%) and recommendations (38%) are also among the most useful types of content for those who are looking for ideas.
Of the travelers who own a mobile terminal, in the last six months 61% made some kind of purchase on their tablet and 51% on their smartphone. And also, satisfactorily for them, so that 80% of smartphone users and 90% of tablet users, would do so again.
Even so, many of these users can start buying at a mobile terminal, but end up carrying it out on a PC – 63% booking flights and 67% booking hotels on their PCs.
Although the applications do not seem to be an essential element, not for that the companies oriented to this segment, they must forget them to include their publicity. Of 44% of users who plan their trip in a mobile terminal, 44% of them use some application. Smartphone users commented that accessibility (43%), ease of use (35%) and availability of the application (33%) were key elements in booking the trip.