Tourism Breaking News
The standard of digital experiences offered by airlines, hotels and travel agents now carries significant influence over the booking decisions of young travellers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to the findings of Travelport’s Global Digital Traveler Research 2019, which surveyed 23000 people from 20 countries. Three-quarters of millennial travellers in the UAE now actively consider whether an airline (77%) or hotel (76%) offers a good digital experience when making a booking. Half (51%) also get frustrated when booking information isn’t available round-the-clock on mobile devices, such as smartphones and smartwatches.
Kathryn Wallington, Head of Account Management, United Arab Emirates, at Travelport, said, “Demand for high-quality digital experiences is now exceptionally high among millennial travellers in the UAE. Today, a good digital experience should really be delivered as standard and differentiation should be sought through excellence.”
According to the Travelport’s study, when researching a trip, nearly all millennial travellers in the UAE (93%) have now reviewed videos and photos posted by travel brands on social media and one third (34%) ‘nearly always’ do this. When booking a flight online, two fifths (42%) of millennial travels in the UAE today want to personalise their experience. It also revealed that three fifths (60%) of UAE millennials want virtual reality experiences to help them plan their trips in a better way. Other findings include how two thirds (69%) of millennial travellers in the UAE have used voice search to help them manage travel, with one quarter (22%) ‘nearly always’ using the technology for this.
