Digital essential to reach modern travellers

WHEN planning
a trip, 75% of
travellers use
videos and photos posted
by friends as part of
their travel research,
82% use review sites
for researching their
trips and 86% use travel
booking sites to help them
discover new and exciting
destinations.
These are some of the
findings from a recent
Travelport survey, based
on a sample of 500
people in South Africa who
took at least one return
flight last year.
Travelport also undertook
a Global Traveler Survey
of 11 000 travellers in 19
countries that highlights
the use of digital tools
when planning, booking
and experiencing a
journey.
The South African
sample shows that when
booking a trip, 69% of
travellers believe a good
digital experience is
important when choosing
an airline, 79% choose
hotels that do not charge
for WiFi and 54% worry
that reviews might not be
genuine. When on the trip,
79% of travellers believe
digital boarding passes
make travelling much
easier and 86% say being
able to stay in touch is
most important to them
when travelling.
Furthermore, when at the
destination, travellers use
an average of 17 different
categories of apps while
travelling and 43% want to
share travel experiences
on social media.
Robyn Christie, country
manager of Travelport
South Africa, commented
on the study results: “With
20 million smartphone
users in South Africa,
the Global Traveler
Survey findings highlight
considerable opportunities
for travel companies
to engage digitally with
South African travellers,
who are digitally confident
and believe a good digital
experience is important
throughout their journeys.
“Providing relevant
and timely digital tools
and content is no longer
an accessory but an
essential means of
reaching and satisfying
the modern traveller from
the moment they search
to the moment they return
from their trip.”