travel tech insights

Travel agencies and mobile apps. These two concepts might seem to represent two very different time periods in the travel industry. The old and the new. The traditional and the state-of-the-art. Yet, today’s travel agencies would be well-advised to not only understand the value mobile travel apps can provide, but also embrace and adopt them as part of their operational platform.

Rather than being suspect of mobile apps as an alternative to the traditional travel agent, agencies should view mobile apps as an important tool to reach today’s younger traveler where they spend most of their time - online and connected to their smartphones. As travel agencies have to work harder to remain competitive in a global, connected marketplace, mobile apps provide agencies a direct line to travelers by cutting through much of the noise other travel companies can’t avoid by failing to adopt a mobile app strategy.

Many of today’s travelers view mobile travel apps as the simply the newest method to quickly and conveniently research, book, and modify destination and bookings - a shortcut or way around working with a traditional brick and mortar travel agency or even an online travel agency or management company. But for those within the travel industry, particularly travel agencies themselves, mobile travel apps are a key marketing tool travel agencies can leverage to increase deploy modern customer engagement campaigns and increase customer retention.

A recent survey published by Euromonitor International found roughly 44 percent of travel bookings completed during 2016 will be done via mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets, and the use of mobile travel apps is also expected to play a large part in these bookings. Must-have market segments for travel agencies in today’s travel industry like millennials and travelers from emerging markets are spending more and more of their time online, incorporating apps into their daily lives in unprecedented numbers.

As we reach the midway point of 2016, it’s commonplace to review the trends, developments, evolutions, and disruptions that have occurred during the first half of the year in order to attempt predictions on where the second half may be headed. While unexpected geopolitical events like the loosening of travel restrictions between the United States and Cuba and Britain's exit from the European Union certainly caught some in the travel industry by surprise, other headlines items like the sustained rise of mobile travel apps and mobile travel interfaces have functioned as more of a foregone conclusion for the travel industry as it embraces more the ability to research, book, and review destinations while travels are on the move.

Travel and tourism industry analysts have been beating the drum for mobile capabilities for some time now, but if there is one surprising element to the mobility narrative, it’s how even halfway through 2016 mobile travel apps and platforms are perhaps the most dominant force in shaping the future of business in travel and tourism. As the world becomes bigger and more emerging markets enter the discussion, mobile travel capabilities are actually making the world smaller as travelers can access more information, products, and services than ever before.