Ways in Which Mobile Apps Have Revolutionized Travel

The travel and tourism sector is well and truly disrupted with digital transformation and the arrival of mobile apps. It is a good reminder and example of digital done right, making the most of the opportunities that technology presents. From travel research, hotel bookings, ticket and reservations, planning and packing assistants, to local guides and local services – there is an app for everything. 

Some of the top-rated apps on the App Store belong to the travel sector and as technology advances, the innovation and problem-solving abilities of these apps continues to surprise us. The iOS platform remains one of the most popular markets for building and selling travel apps. As a tourism vendor if you have a unique app idea that solves a specific travel challenge, then all you need is an experienced iPhone development firm to realize your creation. 

Here’s taking a look at the various types of apps within the industry that can get your inspiration going: 

1) Itinerary Planner Apps:  Itinerary planner apps organize the users’ travel plans in one place. Users need to forward travel confirmation emails and the app stores the master itinerary for each trip. This helps travelers to access their plans, anytime, anywhere and on all their devices. What’s more it enables calendar sync and sends reminders when it is time to leave for the airport. One good app worth mentioning here is the TripIt app. 

2) Booking And Ticketing Apps:  Booking service apps like Hipmunk are easy to use for booking flights and hotels. You can look up hotel deals, browse hotels by city and find offers on flights. Some of the better apps are quite literally bargain hunters and endeavor to find you the best deals on hotels, flights and so on. In fact, Hipmunk has a feature that displays itineraries with the least amount of layovers and hassles first followed by lesser expensive and longer trips.

3) Local Guide Apps: Taste the city like a local with local guide apps that help you localize easily - listing everything from helpful phrases to the list of do’s and don’ts when you visit a particular city.  The apps list events, exhibitions and activities of interest near your hotel location and make suggestions based on your interest and the time of the year. It is like having a local friend in the city guiding you through your stay. Some noteworthy apps in this category are: Spotted by Locals, Currency, Foodict Food Dictionary.

4) Hotel Apps: Hotel booking apps are some of the most popular and widely used apps that there are. Consider the epic success of hotel.com, trivago.com, expedia.com, booking.com and many more apps that are released each year to the app stores. Building a hotel booking app is somewhat of a safe bet, because everyone loves a hotel deal and the ability to compare prices. With features like instant confirmation, paperless check-in and offline maps, personalized service, the popularity is only surging with time.

5) Packing Assistant Apps: The app remembers, you just fold. Almost everyone who travels has had the awful realization on reaching their destination that they forgot to pack something important or essential.  Packing apps are a highly popular category on the App Store and these are quite literally your packing assistants with beautifully designed interface and a host of features. The assistant makes sure you don’t wind up in a mad rush to the pharmacy or convenience store. These programs also make notes of who is travelling, how many people, the local climate, allowing you to customize on the go.  Most packing apps have easy syncing options and sharing enabled via iCloud and email.

And then there are some services that have broken the mold and emerged winners like Airbnb, Google translate etc. For instance, Happy Cow is an app that lists all the vegan and vegetarian eateries in your chosen location, covering 180+ countries.  With the travel sector, there are several niches you can explore to create a useful app that fills some gap in the user experience. 

Take a look at some fascinating statistics about the tourism sector and its use of technology: 

• Travel is the 7th most downloaded app category
• 85% use smartphones to plan their travel when on leisure tours
• 46% check-in via their smartphones when on holidays
• 72% people will post photos about their travel on social platforms like Facebook
• 30% use mobile apps to find the best hotel deals
• 29% take help from mobile apps to find the best flight deals
• 15% users specifically download travel apps to plan a trip ahead

As you can see, the time is right and opportunities are plenty to create and market your travel app. What are some areas in travel that may benefit from technology? Please share your views in the comments section below.