More Singaporeans booking travel plans on their phones
More Singaporeans are making travel bookings through mobile devices, thanks to developments in fintech and the general increase in mobile phone usage.
Travel agencies and web-based travel companies are meeting this demand by being more mobile-friendly, adapting their websites and apps to customers' mobile preferences.
According to performance marketing technology company Criteo, there has been a 35 per cent increase in Singaporeans using smartphones to book their travel plans from 2011 to 2016.
Criteo polled 1,900 consumers from across the Asia Pacific region, out of which 150 were Singaporeans .
Singaporeans still prefer laptops and desktops when browsing for and booking trips - 60 per cent and 72 per cent respectively - but Mr Alban Villani, general manager for Criteo Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, predicts more consumers will move to mobile.
"With the development of fintech and the upward trend that more Singaporeans are using mobile platforms to book their trips, we are confident that we will have a future where everyone will be making travel plans through their phones," he said.
Barriers such as small screens and troublesome payment methods, which respondents identified as factors that keep them from completing their transactions on mobile platforms, are coming down.
Mr Villani explained: "To draw consumers to use apps, businesses have to ensure a user-friendly interface, easy navigation as well as have add-on features which can provide consumers with immersive experiences with loaded travel content."
National University of Singapore transport researcher Lee Der Horng said:"These apps should be able to provide the user with not only travel tickets but accommodation and local transport as well."
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