Are travel apps going to change your business in 2013?

If you're in the travel industry then you will have noticed the rise of mobile apps aimed at a variety of aspects of the journey that users take in deciding, purchasing and getting to and around their holiday destination before telling others about the experience. When you look at the many travel related apps you quickly realise what an effect an app can have on your business and your ability to communicate with customers.

Recent data from the US by Nielsen Research, backs this up with data showing that up-take in travel apps is the highest for any industry with 116% growth over the last year. This growth is higher than the general increase in apps overall of 84% and is expected to represent around 30% of travellers.

Of the variety of uses of an app for travel purposes the main functions that customers use their apps are for finding their destinations, looking for things to do/places to eat near where they are staying and seeing what others have to say in a review. They also make use of the phones other functions with 76% posting images to social media, up-dating and checking in on Facebook.

Travellers are also happy to share their visit with others, with around 45% posting reviews of their accommodation, restaurants and the activities they take part in. This offers any hotel/agency a great opportunity to build a strong social media presence with real authority by linking these reviews through all their digital platforms.

If you are considering developing an app these function provide a great place to start and the opportunity to offer further services such as concierge/rep services, push notification to inform clients of changes to schedules and localised offers is clear.

With this kind of growth it is really hard to ignore this channel as a potential new revenue stream as well as performing important communication tasks that your customers will thank you for time and again. Whether you are in the higher or lower end of the market, customers are happy to take part in this social activity and as a business you have the opportunity to leverage this for developing your customer service delivery and client retention strategy.

With a variety of independent travel apps on the market it is important that you develop a presence for your brand so that customers directly benefit and feel special in receiving dedicated content just for them. The widespread issues with platforms such as Trip Adviser are well documented so in order to build trust with customers an app can deliver a direct link to your business which adds to the user experience.

Gibe Digital are experts in this field and can help you find the right solution to position your brand in this growing market.

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About the Author

John Williams avatar

John Williams, Sales and Marketing

John was once a client who joined the Gibe team for several years to help us with sales and marketing. He left Gibe to return to the world of freelance marketing and is once again a wonderful client for Gibe.