Going mobile will soon be a do-or-die decision for travel industry

Mobile phones are now the most pervasive form of technology and harnessing the new technology available for the mobile platform must be a central part of travel agents’ strategy for growth, says Abacus International, Asia’s leading travel facilitator.  

President and CEO of Abacus International, Mr Robert Bailey says with some 1.5 billion mobile subscribers in Asia Pacific the sheer penetration makes mobiles a powerful tool for interacting with consumers.  This figure is projected to grow at a rate of 15.4% CAGR according to Euromonitor.

The top five countries for mobile subscribers; China, India, Japan, Indonesia and Pakistan account for 1.2 billion or 80% of mobile subscribers in Asia Pacific. “Currently three billion people in the world have access to a mobile phone and only one billion to a computer,” says Mr Bailey. “With mobile phone users expected to rise to four billion by 2010, it is not difficult to imagine the now humble cell phone will become the world’s portal to the internet as well as the key to inter-personal communication.”  

The mobile market is filling with relatively cheap handsets that have the functionality to access the internet and carry out searches, downloading and purchasing anywhere the user wishes.  In Japan, mobile technology and user confidence has been at this sophisticated level for many years and while it may be a less mature market technologically, many Indian mobile users can search, book and pay for travel as well as receiving their ticket on their mobile phone. 

“Mobile as a travel tool is still a very context sensitive channel,” says Mr Bailey. “Most business and leisure traveller currently view mobile as a method to receive real-time updates and information, such as flight delays, gate information and directions. While the capability obviously exists, there is not yet a universal demand for using a mobile to book the next family holiday.”  

However, Robert Bailey believes that the travel industry has the opportunity to drive innovation in the mobile marketplace as consumer needs and corporate wants are very much aligned for the sector.  “Travel is by its very nature mobile and travellers benefit from real-time information and increased simplicity in their travel arrangements.”  “Agents and airlines both see increased efficiency and richer contact with their more-informed consumers, meaning the whole travel machine becomes just that little more well-oiled,” says Robert Bailey.  

The travel industry is already at the forefront of mobile application development which benefits the consumer and broader industry alike.  “There is obviously a great synergy between travelling and the use of mobile technology. Most travellers carry a mobile phone and many would like their phone to do more for them,” says Abacus’ Robert Bailey. 

In the recent Travel 2.0 Consumer Trends survey from PhoCusWright, 64% of respondents from the United States were keen to use their phone to access directions, over half to receive flight status alerts and over a third thought receiving special offers on their phone would be a bonus.

To read full article, click here: http://www.abacus.com.sg