SINGAPORE, 23 April 2019: Destination services make or break the trip according to a third of travellers interviewed by an Amadeus study.
Around 50% of them feel frustrated about travelling to/around their destination of choice.
93% of travellers now consider ancillary destination services to be an important part of their overall travel experience.
40% specifically believe ancillary destination services make their trips more productive and enjoyable.
45% of travellers say their mobile browser is the first place they go to discover what’s out there and 41% also use it to book their destination service.
Around 25% of respondents book destination services the day before travel, en route, or once they’ve arrived at their destination.
27% of respondents identify having to use multiple apps as the number one frustration when searching for ancillary destination services.
Almost a quarter of travellers lack time to properly evaluate what is available or plan when and how to do things during their trip, with 17% being unable to easily access destination services upon arrival.
10% feel that they are not receiving sufficient guidance from their employer, travel agency or air/hotel supplier to keep them fully informed.
For those typically booking three or more ancillary destination services, 34% say they do so primarily for leisure trips, while around 10% book the same amount for a business trip.
Complementary services are the new name of the ancillary travel game. 72% of travellers are very receptive to receiving proactive suggestions about related destination services.
A third say complementary services “truly enhance their trip experience”.
Over half of travellers want travel brands to tailor destination content and shopping to their preferences and previous behaviour.
During the “discovering” stage of their holiday planning, only 5% of travellers want push notifications.
After booking the trip, the demand for push notifications increases, peaking at 93% of survey respondents saying they would welcome receiving information about other complementary services or offers when they book an ancillary destination service.
More than a quarter of respondents dislike visiting multiple apps and/or websites to access their desired ancillary destination services. When asked what single the biggest improvement they would like to see, over a third-ranked ‘having a single mobile point of access to relevant destination information’ as number one.
Travel has to be accessible to all. Among adults with disabilities who travelled by air, 72% have encountered major obstacles with airlines and 65% with airports. There are three specific areas travel providers must consider improving for travellers with health conditions or impairments.
18% of travellers desire better-coordinated access to destination services across apps, chat, web and voice.
Travellers are just beginning to open up to the possibilities of voice search with less than 5% saying that they search for destination services using voice recognition technology such as Alexa, Siri or Google.
Find out more about Destination X and how it can provide a better future of travel here.
