Mobile applications development for tourism industry: solutions for your business

 
Tourism and travel industry is a large sector that includes lots of components: travel agencies, insurance companies, hotels, restaurants, and so on. And this world is going mobile nowadays.

A few words about mobile applications on the whole. In 2009 the number of mobile app downloads exceeds 2.5 billion. In 2011 this mark reached 31 billion. And as some projections say, it is expected to more than double to 70 billion in 2017.

According to analysts’ predictions, smartphones will soon replace laptop and desktop computers in such things as online search and purchasing. So, if you haven’t still thought about developing your own travel mobile app, it’s time to do it now.

Most companies clearly see benefits that a travel mobile app can bring, whether it’s sales enforcement, services quality increase, customer or brand loyalty creation, or something else. With ideas and plans in mind they try to find (or have already made it) the optimal solution specifically for their business needs.

So, if your competitors haven’t yet realized the possible opportunities of custom app development for tourism industry, they will lose the game, when some other company, maybe even yours, makes a really great and useful travel mobile app for customers.
 

Look at some facts to ensure you that these aren’t just words.
 

• Nowadays, when everybody has a smartphone and carries it all the time, about 65% of travelers prefer to plan their itinerary with the help of travel mobile apps.
• Most businessmen (about 70%) order flights, find and book hotels, with the help of travel software solutions.
• As statistics shows, about 80 % of travel agencies, hotels, airlines, etc. benefit from increased brand recognition, profit, and more.
• All travelers love using apps that allow them to easily orient in any country. A travel mobile app may have features like providing dictionaries, maps, navigation around the city including such places as restaurants, museums, cafes, sights, and so on.
• About 75% of leisure travelers use at least one tourism mobile app while abroad.
• Currently 35% of tourists download travel mobile apps specifically for a certain trip or an upcoming vacation.
• In the age of social media development and spread about 80% of travelers post their vacation photos in social networks. And this number continues to grow.
• Travel mobile apps take the 7th place in the number of downloads among all existing applications worldwide.

 
As we see, travel mobile software solutions provide new tools and channels for revenue growth, brand recognition, and services quality increase.

Surely, your travel mobile app must have a good relevant idea (meaning that it’s useful for your target audience) and its quality realization.

So, a mobile solution can bring you a great competitive advantage for your company. Here are some tips from our mobile applications development company on how to make a modern travel app and benefit from it:
 
1. First, define your target audience, create your buyer persona profile, and make your app exactly for a particular niche. If your company offers services for businessmen, create a travel mobile app for business trips, f.e. for simple flights and hotels, the most beneficial offers search, fast route planning, and so on.
 
2. Provide your app with convenient features: if the main function of your travel mobile app is to search for the best offer of hotels and book rooms, the way of should be limited to 2-3 clicks.

3. Give users the possibility to express their opinions. For example, a wall within the app to leave comments and create discussions. This feature will let you know your audience, its needs, preferences as well as find out what you should improve.

4. Get in touch with your customers by creating user-friendly conversations with them.

5. Make the app working offline – notifications about starting registration, best offers, discounts, etc. – without the Internet connection… such a great feature will allow your travel software solution to stand out among other similar apps.

6. Integrate user social media accounts (Instagram, Facebook, etc.) into your travel mobile app.

 
There are a few examples of successful travel software solutions you can “pick up” some ideas:
 

• AppinTheAir

This app is a personal flying manager that keeps all necessary information about flights: a real-time status, arrival and departure time, in-airport navigation, etc. A great advantage of the app is that it works offline – a feature that should be always considered in custom mobile app development for the service sector.
 

• TripAdvisor Hotels Flights

This travel mobile app enables users to plan a perfect route due to the vast base of tourists’ opinions, photos, tips, testimonials, comments, and more. With the help of this mobile software solution a traveler can find the cheapest costs, best options concerning restaurants, cafes, hotels, flights, and more, and create a perfect trip. Now the app downloads number exceeds 800 000 marks!
 

• Booking.com Hotel Reservations

This travel software solution helps to find the most convenient solution exactly for a particular user due to providing a plenty of search filters such as quality, prices, WiFi, reviews, etc.

Also, the app provides lots of offline maps, last-minute reservation possibilities, and much more. The number of installed apps is impressive enough – about 600 000 downloads for today.
 

Thus, mobile applications development for tourism industry offers a lot of opportunities for business growth.

Companies that have a strong mobile presence, get in touch with their target audience, and constantly improve their services quality, are more likely to achieve success in a particular industry.