Thematic Research: Travel & Tourism Travel Apps

Thematic Research: Travel & Tourism

Travel Apps

23 August 2021 GDTT-TR-S067

Thematic Research: Travel Apps | 23 August 2021

WWW.GLOBALDATA.COM © GlobalData Plc 2021 | 2

| Contents Executive summary ...................................................................................................................................................... 3

Players .......................................................................................................................................................................... 4

Thematic briefing ......................................................................................................................................................... 7

Trends .......................................................................................................................................................................... 9

Technology trends ............................................................................................................................................................ 9

Macroeconomic trends .................................................................................................................................................. 10

Industry trends ............................................................................................................................................................... 11

Industry analysis ......................................................................................................................................................... 14

Sentiment analysis ......................................................................................................................................................... 18

Case studies ................................................................................................................................................................... 21

Mergers and acquisitions ............................................................................................................................................... 25

Timeline.......................................................................................................................................................................... 28

Impact on travel & tourism ......................................................................................................................................... 30

Value chain ................................................................................................................................................................. 32

Content provider level .................................................................................................................................................... 33

Content enabler level ..................................................................................................................................................... 34

App technology level ...................................................................................................................................................... 34

Device level .................................................................................................................................................................... 34

User level........................................................................................................................................................................ 35

Companies .................................................................................................................................................................. 36

Sector scorecards........................................................................................................................................................ 40

Travel intermediaries sector scorecard .......................................................................................................................... 40

Rail and road transport sector scorecard ....................................................................................................................... 43

Glossary ...................................................................................................................................................................... 46

Further reading ........................................................................................................................................................... 47

| Our thematic research methodology ....................................................................................................................... 48

| About GlobalData .................................................................................................................................................... 50

| Contact Us ............................................................................................................................................................... 51



Executive summary To successfully reach travelers, many travel and tourism companies have realized the value travel apps can bring. Smartphones have become popular and are being used as a travel companion. Over the last decade, the travel apps theme has grown extensively, and the development of other technologies has created some incredibly powerful apps. To stay relevant and support an easier traveler journey, the launch of a travel app can deliver value and will become a key component of most, if not all travel companies’ offerings in the near future.

Generation Hashtag values travel apps Generation Hashtag are the first members of the population that have been brought up with widespread access to smartphones and are not afraid of the endless opportunities they hold. This tech native population has been highly receptive to the power of apps, and travel apps have become powerful tools to reach this market. Generation Hashtag looks to the latest technology to make its travel journey easier and prefers to contact a company through a digital medium. This age group will continue to be large advocates of the usage of travel apps and investing in mobile-first strategies will become important in the coming years as smartphone adoption increases.

Technology has empowered travel apps Travel apps have become popular due to the convenience they offer travelers. Apps that utilize the latest technology have become industry leaders within the theme. Technology has allowed companies to create apps that offer a superior service to travelers, even excelling the online offering of a company. Technology such as augmented reality has allowed travelers to ensure their luggage complies with an airline’s regulations and this would not be possible without the deployment of the latest technology within apps. Technology has been a key enabler to create such a powerful travel companion within the traveler’s pocket. As technology continues to progress, travel app providers are likely to embrace it, much to the benefit of consumers.

COVID-19 has impacted travel app development As a result of the pandemic, travel demand was almost non-existent and many travel companies went into hibernation. However, the number of travel app-related patents submitted in 2020 reached the highest level since the introduction of smartphones. The pandemic has given agile companies the opportunity to take a step back, access their competitive position, and invest in the latest technology to improve the customer experience. Similarly, travel apps have been altered to create a contactless travel experience addressing pandemic concerns. The pandemic has accelerated app development.

Who are the front runners within this theme? Travel apps have become commonplace within the travel and tourism industry. As consumers increasingly seek the most convenient way to interact with travel brands, development and investment in travel apps is set to increase. Leaders include: Airbnb, Carnival Cruises, easyJet, Flyr, Hilton, Revolut, Tourism of Cambodia, TripLingo.

Inside Players Thematic briefing Trends Industry analysis Impact on travel & tourism Value chain Companies Sector scorecards Glossary Further reading Thematic methodology

________________________________

Related reports Thematic research: IoT in Travel &

Tourism

Thematic research: 5G in Travel & Tourism

Thematic research: Online Travel (2021)

________________________________

Report type Single theme Multi-theme Sector scorecard

https://tourism.globaldata.com/Analysis/Details/internet-of-things-in-travel-tourism-2021

https://tourism.globaldata.com/Analysis/Details/internet-of-things-in-travel-tourism-2021

https://tourism.globaldata.com/Analysis/details/thematic-research-5g-in-travel-tourism

https://tourism.globaldata.com/Analysis/details/thematic-research-5g-in-travel-tourism

https://tourism.globaldata.com/Analysis/details/thematic-research-online-travel-2021

https://tourism.globaldata.com/Analysis/details/thematic-research-online-travel-2021



Players Across all sectors within travel and tourism, the travel apps theme has disrupted, to varying extents, the buyer-seller relationship. From lodging providers to travel service providers, companies have been facing increasing levels of digital disruption. Travel apps are becoming the most convenient way to access products and services thus investment in them has increased. Companies investing in a travel app proposition will be attractive to travelers over those who do not.

DMOs have been very slow to embrace the travel app revolution. The primary focus of a DMO is to work with tourism stakeholders and promote the destination to generate visitation. These organizations have done a great job at developing highly informative destination websites to drive visitation and have even combined booking platforms within these to further encourage it. However, many lack a presence within the travel apps space. Visit Malta, Cambodia Tourism, ProColombia, Visit Dubai, Visit London, and I Amsterdam can all be considered leaders within this theme. These players have realized the potential a travel app holds and launched within this space. These apps are great for providing all the information a user requires before their trip and can act as a travel guide when in destination. Through this platform, wayfinding tools can be offered to ensure a seamless visit. By investing in an app, the DMO can generate additional income by selling advertising space or preferred listings to encourage visitation to a certain attraction or restaurant. Apps provide endless opportunities for DMOs that many are yet to discover.

Transportation providers are no stranger to the travel app theme and utilize the power of apps to create seamless journeys for travelers. American Airlines, British Airways, and easyJet are leading airlines within this theme. These apps allow users to book, manage, and check-in for their flights, even downloading a digital boarding pass. Some are integrating boarding notification, reducing the need to constantly check in-airport departure screens, and thus greatly improving the airport experience. Companies such as Lime, Uber and Grab all utilize apps as the main distribution and access channel for their transportation services. Without an app, their services would be harder to access. Travel apps are allowing transportation players to create a more seamless experience and keeping travelers informed is a key benefit of app development.

Lodging providers are utilizing apps to improve their competitive position within the sector by offering a technologically driven business model with traveler convenience at the heart of app development. Hotel brands including Hilton, Marriott, and Hyatt have utilized mobile apps as trip management tools, loyalty programs and even turned them into digital room keys. These functions provide a far superior experience for customers. They can help hotels become more efficient by reducing the number of staff required for check-in when it can all be done on a mobile app. There are plenty of benefits outside of the core benefit to the traveler and many players have realized this when investing in travel app technology. Sharing economy-based lodging providers including Airbnb are leaders within this theme. The company has adopted a mobile-first strategy to provide an industry-leading service. It has helped the company become one of the largest and most popular lodging providers. Guests now expect an app to expedite check-in experiences and eliminate the need to visit the front desk. Those who do not invest in this technology deployed through a mobile app are likely to fall behind.



Who are the leading players in the travel apps theme?

Source: GlobalData

Visit Malta ProColombiaCambodia Tourism Visit DubaiI Amsterdam Visit London

British Airways Flyr UberAirAsia Ryanair GrabKLM American Airlines Lime

Airbnb Hyatt HotelsHilton Intercontinental Hotels GroupMarriott International AccorHotels

Mysafetravel Dragon Slayer TravelSITATA GeosureGOEX TripLingo

LikeALocal TimeoutTripso Bradt Travel GuidesLonely Planet Trip Advisor

Norwegian Cruise Line Celebrity CruisesDisney Cruise Line Carnival Cruise LineP&O Cruises MSC Cruises

Revolut Lounge BuddyAlphabet (Google) Priority PassTrip It XE Currency Exchange

Booking Holdings SkyScannerHotelTonight Holiday ExtrasHopper Expedia Group

Content providers involved within the travel apps theme

Transportation providers

Leaders

DMOs

Travel safety providers

Cruise operators

Travel guides

Lodging providers

Travel services

Travel intermediaries



Trends The main trends shaping the travel apps theme over the next 12 to 24 months are shown below. We classify these trends into three categories: technology trends, macroeconomic trends, and industry trends.

Technology trends The table below highlights the key technology trends impacting the travel apps theme.

Trend What’s happening? 5G

Artificial intelligence (AI)

Conversational platforms

Augmented reality (AR)

Cloud

Cybersecurity

Mobile payments

Super apps

Source: GlobalData



Value chain The tourism value chain for the theme of travel apps can be divided across five distinct layers. These are the content provider level, content enabler level, app technology level, device level, and user level. Travel and tourism companies will get the most value out of the content provider level as this is the layer within which the app idea and content for it is created. The levels in between are important to understand and deploy to create value for the user, thus are important components of the travel apps value chain. At the user level, all the previous links of the chain come together to deliver a useable app for the traveler, one that they should be able to extract maximum value from.

The travel apps value chain The value chain can be divided into five categories: content provider, content enabler, app technology, device, and user level.

Source: GlobalData

In the following sections, we will look more closely at each segment of the value chain.

User levelApp technology level

Content enabler level

App design agencies

App developers

VR

AI

Conversationalplatforms

Mobile payments

Content provider level

Lodging providers

Transportation providers

DMOs

Travel safety providers

Travel guides

Cruise operators

Device level

Network providers

App distributors

Device manufacturers

Reservation management

Communication

Information services

Loyalty services

Trip notifications

5G

Digital room keys/travel passes

Cloud

AR

And many moreAnd many more

Travel services

Travel intermediaries



Sector scorecards At GlobalData, we use a scorecard approach to predict tomorrow’s leading companies within each sector.

Travel apps is a theme that impacts the travel and tourism industry and is closely linked to the online travel theme. In this section, we focus specifically on the travel intermediaries and rail and road transport sector.

For a full explanation of our thematic scoring methodology, please refer to our thematic research methodology.

Travel intermediaries sector scorecard Who’s who

Who does what in the travel intermediaries space?

Source: GlobalData © GlobalData

Travel intermediaries(17 companies)

Company Ticker Sector MKT CAP (US$ M) Country Description

Airbnb ABNB Accommodation sharing 92,247 USA Accommodation sharing appBooking Holdings BKNG Online travel 85,663 USA Online travel agency which owns Priceline, Booking.com, Kayak and OpenTable, among othersDespegar DESP Travel intermediary 768 Argentina Online travel intermediaryeDreams EDR Travel intermediary 859 Spain Online travel intermediaryExpedia EXPE Online travel 21,167 USA Online travel agencyFlight Centre Travel Group FLT Travel Intermediary 2,030 Australia Provider of travel intermediary servicesG Adventures Unlisted Travel intermediary Unlisted UK Travel intermediaryGetYourGuide Unlisted Travel intermediary Unlisted Switzerland Online travel intermediaryHays Travel Unlisted Travel intermediary Unlisted UK Travel intermediaryIntrepid Group Unlisted Travel intermediary Unlisted Australia Travel intermediaryMakeMyTrip MMYT Online travel 2,686 India Indian online travel agencyOn the Beach Group OTB Travel intermediary 796 UK Online travel intermediarySecret Escapes Unlisted Travel intermediary Unlisted UK Online travel intermediaryTrip.com TCOM Online travel 31,766 China Online travel agencyTripAdvisor TRIP Online travel 4,609 USA Online travel review siteTUI TUI1 Travel Intermediary 4,747 Germany Provider of travel intermediary servicesTuniu TOUR Travel intermediary 178 China Online travel intermediary



| Our thematic research methodology Companies that invest in the right themes become success stories. Those that miss the important themes in their industry end up as failures.

Viewing the world’s data by themes makes it easier to make important decisions We define a theme as any issue that keeps a CEO awake at night. GlobalData’s thematic research ecosystem is a single, integrated global research platform that provides an easy-to-use framework for tracking all themes across all companies in all sectors. It has a proven track record of identifying the important themes early, enabling companies to make the right investments ahead of the competition, and secure that all-important competitive advantage.

Traditional research does a poor job of picking winners and losers The difficulty in picking tomorrow’s winners and losers in any industry arises from the sheer number of technology cycles – and other themes – that are in full swing right now. Companies are impacted by multiple themes that frequently conflict with one another. What is needed is an effective methodology that reflects, understands, and reconciles these conflicts.

That is why we developed our “thematic engine” At GlobalData, we have developed a unique thematic methodology for ranking all companies in all sectors based on their relative strength in the big investment themes that are impacting their industries. Our thematic engine identifies which companies are best placed to succeed in a future filled with multiple disruptive threats.

To do this, we rate the performance of the top 1,000 companies against the 50 most important themes impacting those companies, generating 50,000 thematic scores. The algorithms in GlobalData’s thematic engine help to identify the long-term winners and losers within each sector.

How do we create our sector scorecards? First, we split each industry into its component sectors because each sector is driven by a different set of themes. Taking the TMT (technology, media, and telecom) industry as an example, we split this industry into the 18 sectors shown in the graphic below.

Our five-step approach for generating a sector scorecard Here we use the tech, media, and telecom sector as an example for illustration purposes

Source: GlobalData

Sectors Themes Research Thematic screen Sector scorecard

1. Split the global TMT 2. Identify and rank the 3. Identify and score tech 4. Calculate overall 5. Determine leading companiessector into 18 subsectors. top 10 themes driving leaders and challengers thematic rankings for in each sector using our three

earnings for each sector. for each theme. all companies in a sector. screens.

Sector Scorecard =

Thematic screen+

Valuation screen+

Risk Screen

HardwareSemiconductorsServers, storage, networkingTelecom equipment Consumer electronicsComponent makersIndustrial automationSoftwareApplication softwareInfrastructure softwareSecurity softwareVideo games softwareIT servicesInternet & MediaE-commerceSocial mediaAdvertisingMusic, film and televisionPublishingTelecomsTelecom operatorsCable operators

2. Cloud

3. Blockchain

1. Voice

10. Internet of Things



Second, we identify and rank the top 10 themes for each sector (these can be technology themes, macroeconomic themes, or industry-specific themes). Third, we publish in-depth research on specific themes, identifying the winners and losers within each theme. The problem is that companies are exposed to multiple investment themes, and the relative importance of specific themes can fluctuate. So, our fourth step is to create a thematic screen for each sector to calculate overall thematic leadership rankings after taking account of all themes impacting that sector. Finally, to give a crystal-clear picture, we combine this thematic screen with our valuation and risk screens to generate a sector scorecard used to help assess overall winners and losers.

What is in our sector scorecards? Our sector scorecards help us determine which companies are best positioned for a future filled with disruptive threats. Each sector scorecard has three screens:

The thematic screen tells us who are the overall leaders in the 10 themes that matter most, based on the algorithms in our thematic engine;

The valuation screen tells us whether publicly listed players appear cheap or expensive relative to their peers, based on consensus forecasts from investment analysts; and

The risk screen tells us whom the riskiest players in each industry are, based on our assessment of four risk categories: corporate governance risk, accounting risk, technology risk, and political risk.

How do we score companies in our thematic screen? Our thematic screen ranks companies within a sector based on overall leadership in the 10 themes that matter most to their industry, generating a leading indicator of future earnings growth.

Thematic scores predict the future, not the past.

Our thematic scores are based on our analysts’ assessment of their competitive position in relation to a theme, on a scale of 1 to 5:

1 Vulnerable The company’s activity with regards to this theme will be highly detrimental to its future performance.

2 Follower The company’s activity with regards to this theme will be detrimental to its future performance.

3 Neutral The company’s activity with regards to this theme will have a negligible impact on the company’s future performance, or this theme is not currently relevant for this company.

4 Leader The company is a market leader in this theme. The company’s activity with regards to this theme will improve its future performance.

5 Dominant The company is a dominant player in this theme. The company’s activity with regards to this theme will significantly improve its future performance.

How do our research reports fit into our overall thematic research ecosystem? Our thematic research ecosystem is designed to assess the impact of all major themes on the leading companies in a sector. To do this, we produce three tiers of thematic reports:

Single Theme: These reports offer in-depth research into a specific theme (e.g., artificial intelligence). They identify winners and losers based on technology leadership, market position, and other factors.

Multi-Theme: These reports cover all themes impacting a sector and the implications for the key players in that sector.

Sector Scorecard: These reports identify those companies most likely to succeed in a world filled with disruptive threats. They incorporate our thematic screen to show how conflicting themes interact with one another, as well as our valuation and risk screens.



| About GlobalData GlobalData is a leading provider of data, analytics, and insights on the world's largest industries. In an increasingly fast-moving, complex, and uncertain world, it has never been harder for organizations and decision makers to predict and navigate the future. This is why GlobalData’s mission is to help our clients to decode the future and profit from faster, more informed decisions. As a leading information services company, thousands of clients rely on GlobalData for trusted, timely, and actionable intelligence. Our solutions are designed to provide a daily edge to professionals within corporations, financial institutions, professional services, and government agencies.

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| Contact Us If you have any more questions regarding our thematic research services, please get in touch.

Head of Thematic Research Cyrus Mewawalla [email protected] +44 (0) 207 936 6522

Customer Success Team Understand how to use our Themes product [email protected] +44 (0) 207 406 6764

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Thematic Research: Travel & Tourism Travel Apps

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