The German online travel market will continue to be less
mobile-focused than other major travel markets for the foreseeable future says
a new report
Although digital travel bookings made through mobile are
rising, a number of factors will mean Germans continue to rely on their
desktops and laptops to look and book their trips says EyeforTravel’s
new German Travel Consumer 2018 Report.
The research expects continuing rises in smartphone usage
during the booking journey as younger generations are more likely to use the
device. However, even by 2020 the
report expects roughly two thirds of digital bookings to still be conducted on
desktops and laptops in the German market. A free excerpt from the
report covering booking trends can be downloaded by clicking this link here
now.
Low rates of mobile usage in the market relative to other
European travel markets, such as France, Scandinavia and the UK, is a result of
several factors including a conservative attitude to technology and lower
ability to access mobile data. Broadband infrastructure for mobile devices is
relatively weak in Germany and data plans are often expensive, leading to
Germany ranking near the bottom of OECD countries for data downloaded per
subscription. According to OECD data, Finland, which
ranks at the top of the countries in the organization for mobile data, saw
nearly 11GB of data usage per mobile subscription in 2016. By contrast, only
seven of the OECD’s 32 countries came below Germany, where the average mobile
subscription uses just 1.21GB of mobile data. Germans are also highly concerned
with privacy, which can be seen in relatively low rates of social media usage
and more focus
This leaves mobile devices trailing desktops and laptops for
users time as they plan and book their trip, especially when it comes to older
generations. In a survey conducted for the report, just 0.6% of over 55s report
buying their flight through a smartphone. In comparison, 29% reported making
their flight booking via a face-to-face sale.
Desktops and laptops are also sticky in terms of consumer
behaviour, with very low numbers of consumers switching over to mobile devices
after using a desktop as their primary research device, and most German
consumers heading the other way to make their booking. just 2.4% of consumers
who report mainly using a desktop/laptop to research report going over to a
tablet and 1.8% to a smartphone
Therefore, as well as Germany lagging behind other major
markets for smartphone device usage in the travel journey, it will also shift
relatively slowly due to consumer attitudes, demographic trends, infrastructure
issues, and an established market of traditional travel agencies.
You can
download an excerpt from the report by clicking here. The excerpt includes
data on digital habits, device ownership, cross-device movements, research
behaviors, lead times, search terms, key research and booking points, social
media engagement, and device usage rates both inside and outside the travel
journey.
- Detailed analysis of Germany’s economy and its ramifications for consumer travel spending.
- More than 80 charts, figures and tables of data detailing the state of the German travel consumer.
- Outbound and domestic travel market overviews and outlooks.
- A breakdown of the German journey to booking, including lead times, key apps and most popular websites.
- Age and location breakdowns for key online behaviors, destination preferences and spending.
- Trends in German device ownership and usage.
- An overview of the state of Germany’s travel industry.
- Forecasts and outlooks for technologies, destinations, and market growth.
- Data taken from more than 80 different sources.