Which travel apps had the top-of-the-mind recall and how much time did they spend on these apps? Get interesting insights on the global travel app downloads, usage and spending in the latest report by mobile data and analytics platform Data.ai titled ‘State of Mobile 2024’. The findings show a jump in activity for travel brands led by online travel agencies.
OTAs make a huge jump
According to the ‘State of Mobile 2024’ report, in 2023 travel app downloads numbered just more than 3 billion – up 13% from 2.7 billion in 2022. Integrated travel service apps – the category Data.ai uses for OTAs such as Booking.com, Expedia, Trip.com, and such – saw the biggest jump in downloads in 2023, up 34%, while airline apps were up 23% and hotel apps 16%. It is clear that the huge demand for travel was not a one-off. Compared to the low in 2020, global downloads more than doubled by 2023 and time spent was up more than 85%.
Marketers take note
Globally, consumers are spending more time using their travel apps. In 2023, total time spent worldwide on travel apps was just more than 15.7 billion hours – up from 12.6 billion in 2022. Across all categories of apps and the top 10 markets analysed, Data.ai found time spent on mobile surpassed five hours per day in 2023 – up 6%. And marketers have taken notice – mobile ad spend was up 8% in 2023 to $362 billion.
Transport apps lead the way
Transportation apps saw the biggest year-over-year gains. The most common type of travel apps consumers are using are transportation ones such as Uber and Lyft. In the fourth quarter of 2023, worldwide app downloads were 307 million for transportation apps, followed by 104 million for integrated travel service apps. Airline app downloads were 59 million and hotel apps were close behind at 55 million.
Apps indicate China reopens
Worldwide figures for 2023 show the top five travel apps based on downloads were Uber, Where Is My Train, Booking.com, InDrive and Airbnb. But looking at aggregate growth year over year, the list changes. Worldwide, the top five travel apps by aggregate growth in 2023 were Railway 12306, Didi Chuxing, Qunar Travel, Ctrip and Umetrip – all China-based apps and a clear reflection of the reopening of travel in that region.
Monthly active users key
Globally all travel apps have seen downloads increase substantially compared with pre-pandemic levels in 2019. The 2023 figures for airline and rail and coach apps are both up 44% compared with 2019, hotel apps are up 32% while integrated travel service and transportation apps are up 29% and 26%, respectively. However, downloads are just one measure of an app’s success; one also need to track monthly active users.
Top breakout apps in US, UK
Apps outside of the transportation subgenre managed to reach to the top breakout rankings in many key markets like the US and the UK. Apps to reach the top 10 breakout apps in the US included Flightradar24 (flight tracking), United Airlines (airline apps), and Booking.com (integrated travel services), and Trainline (rail & coach booking), Jet2 (integrated travel services), and easyJet (airlines apps) were among the top breakout apps in the UK.
