The latest report published by the German online research firm yStats.com, “Global Online Travel Market 2022” highlights the major disruptive consumer trends. Other key revelations of the publication include the regional growth dynamics, key market players and their shares within the online travel market.
Online travel agencies to regain their lost position from 2022 onwards in regions across the world.
After being affected by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the online travel market as of 2021 saw a decline in sales. 2022 is expected to bring some improvement, as restrictions are lifted, and consumers resume travel activities. Most of the travelers now are inclined to using mobile applications for booking their next holidays, as a result, the share of mobile in travel booking significantly increased. In terms of booking of related travel services such as reservation of accommodation or vacation rental, the online travel agencies are expected to maintain a strong position in 2022 as booking channels. In Asia-Pacific, for example, close to two-thirds of online travel sales will come from the online travel agencies. The Southeast Asian economies including Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, and Malaysia are anticipated to witness double-digit growth through 2025, according to a source cited in yStats.com report. Furthermore, in the European online travel market, Germany and the UK will witness significant rise in the use and sales of OTA for booking travel. The Latin American market will also observe a spur in growth of the online travel market sales.
Disruptive consumer trends are changing the conventional norms of the global online travel industry
Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, many travelers are now apprehensive about visiting a physical store and therefore are leaning more towards contactless methods of booking their next travel. Given this trend, the sales of the online travel intermediaries are rising. The global travel industry is also now moving towards ecotourism and virtual tourism, the demand for which is seen to be increasing tremendously. Moreover, with the advancement in technology, players in the online travel market are making use of AI and big data to provide tailor made travel suggestions to mobile application users. Consequently, a majority of the respondents of a survey cited in yStats.com report now prefer to use Chatbots for booking their upcoming holidays. The top players such as Airbnb, Expedia Group etc. in the online travel market are already experimenting with these changing consumer trends as of 2022.
