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Majority of travellers use peer-to-peer reviews to research trips

The majority of UK travellers (85%) use peer-to-peer reviews when researching trips, according to new research.

But the survey of 11,000 travellers in 19 countries also highlights the UK as being one of the countries with the least digitally-advanced travellers compared to countries such as India, China, Indonesia, Brazil and Saudi Arabia.

For example, those from the UK typically use smartphones for boarding an aircraft rather than booking a journey, with 62% saying digital boarding passes makes traveling easier, compared to a global average of 71%.

A third (33%) turn to voice search, using devices such as Siri or Amazon Echo, when researching a trip while half say the biggest pain point is time spent finding the best price.

The global Travelport study, which included a sample of 500 people from the UK who took at least one return flight last year, also found that 40% of travellers research and book their trip on a smartphone.

As a result, almost half (46%) believe a good digital experience is important when choosing an airline.

More than half (54%) of business travellers add leisure days to a business trip and a similar proportion (53%) avoid hotels that charge for fi-fi.

When on a trip 62% of travellers believe that digital airline boarding passes make travelling much easier and 57% would be lost without their smartphone.

When at the destination travellers use an average of 14 different categories of apps and almost half (47%) say they appreciate time away from family when travelling on business.

Travelport UK and Ireland country manager Paul Broughton said: “The global traveller survey clearly shows that the future of travel is digital.

“Travellers are becoming increasingly digitally dependent when it comes to planning, booking and experiencing travel, and the $7.6 trillion global travel and hospitality industry must adapt to provide responsive, relevant and timely services for customers.

“Whether young or old, and in whichever continent, 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.”

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