Travel Statistics for Tour Operators

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Travel Statistics for Tour Operators

A compilation of statistics for the Tours & Activities Sector

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Online Booking Behavior

  • Almost 40% of all tour and activity bookings are being made online (Rezdy data)
  • Items booked on the internet before a trip: organised tours (5.1%) and entertainment activities/events (39.7%) were booked online, with the latter having doubled since the previous year (Tourism Australia)
  • 59% of Asian leisure travelers want to book travel products “whenever they can” and “wherever they can” (Tnooz)
  • 60% of leisure and 41% of business travelers are making their own travel arrangements, generally via Internet (Amadeus)
  • More than 148.3 million people use the Internet to make reservations for their accommodations, tours and activities. That’s more than 57% of all travel reservations each year! (Statistic Brain)
  • Internet travel booking revenue has grown by more than 73% over the past 5 years (Statistic Brain)
  • 97% of people now prefer to find business online (Forbes)
  • 20% of Google searches being for local information (HubSpot)
  • 96.8 million adult Internet users expected to use online coupons in 2013, figures begin to indicate the trend of ‘coupon hunters’ (eMarketer)
  • Over 50% of today’s travelers will rush to the keyboard, rather than the phone to make their travel bookings (Hotel Executive)
  • 65% of tourist book hotels reservations for the same day on a mobile device (Statistic Brain, 2015)
  • Surveys find more than half of the traveler’s book travel products through the mobile sites and apps of travel agents. (Whatech, 2014)
  • Travelers are likely to spend more on sightseeing than on shopping, souvenirs and nightlife combined.  The 5 most common things travelers are willing to spend more on as a treat: Sightseeing (53%), special dining experiences (41%), accommodation (41%), activities (35%) and shopping (24%) (Trip Barometer, 2015)
  • 8% of travelers book their trip on a mobile device (Trip Barometer, 2015)
  • 49% of Canadian tourists orientate themselves on on General travel sites such as Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz (Desination Canada, 2014)

Tour Operator Websites

  • 20% of tourism providers in Australia have no website at all (Amadeus)
  • Almost 90% of tour operators are still taking bookings manually via email booking requests (Tourism Research Australia)
  • Only 54% of respondents allow people to check both availability and price of their products and services (Tourism Research Australia)
  • Only 46% of tour operators with websites offer instant confirmation of booking (Tourism Research Australia)
  • Of those who reported having a website, it was estimated that 48% of website traffic referrals came from search engines (Tourism Research Australia)
  • The majority of Australian Tours (93%), Attractions (89%), and Hire & Transport (86%) companies have their own website (Tourism Research Australia)
  • Nearly 32% of leisure travelers will request more information through your website before booking a tour (Google)
  • Only 50% of tourism providers in Australia currently have booking facilities on their websites (Amadeus)
  • Tour Operators say their own website is double as effective to get bookings than Review websites. (Rezdy data)

Mobile

  • Of all direct online bookings, 30% are made on mobile devices (tablets and smartphones), and it’s increasing at a rate of 1% per quarter (Rezdy data)
  • Mobile phones are the #1 item to bring on holiday (ETB News)
  • Millennials touch their smartphones 43x per day (SDL)
  • 38% of leisure travelers and 57% of business travelers use mobile for travel information (Google)
  • Travel-related mobile queries so far during 2013 are up some 66% year-on-year (Mobile Path to Purchase)
  • 31% of smartphone users claim they research travel on their mobile devices (Mobile Path to Purchase)
  • 14% of smartphone users are securing a booking or quotes on their mobile devices (Mobile Path to Purchase)
  • 49% of those using mobiles to get prices for travel products do so on aggregators (Mobile Path to Purchase)
  • Those who book from mobile devices have 5.1 research sessions & visit 3.3 websites (Mobile Path to Purchase)
  • Tablets for travel arrangements are increasing – 21% for business & 9% for leisure travelers (Amadeus)
  • 20% of Australian households now have at least 1 tablet (Amadeus)
  • Up to a week before travel, 5.3% of travelers would make a last-minute booking on a tablet, 43.8% on mobile (Eye for Travel)
  • 94% of TripAdvisor customers are using mobile to research local things to do (Cross Media Live)
  • 23% of leisure and 26% of business travelers use their mobile browser to book vacation activities (Google)
  • 29% of web users accessed their websites through a mobile device (Tourism Research Australia)
  • 67% of smartphone users said they were more likely to purchase from a business’ mobile-friendly site, while 61% said they’d most likely leave a site that wasn’t optimised for mobile (Tourism Research Australia)
  • Travelers go online during their trips, finding local activities using their mobile devices 33% of the time (Tourism Research Australia)
  • Sales of web-enabled mobile devices are outrunning computer sales (GigaOm)
  • 52% of travelers used a smart phone or tablet to complete travel bookings. Of those 52%, 23% opted to use their smart phone while 29% made their reservations on their tablet (JiWire)
  • Australian online shopping related searches via mobile devices and smartphones have spiked 40% year-on-year (Search Engine Watch)
  • Return on Investment on tablets is 70% better than desktops (Adobe)
  • 67% said they were more likely to make a purchase when visiting a business’s mobile-friendly site, versus 61% who said they’d most likely leave a site that wasn’t optimized for mobile (Search Engine Watch)
  • 74% of people said that “If a site works well on a mobile phone I am more likely to return to it in the future” (Search Engine Watch)
  • In 2011, about 11 percent of people used their mobile device to inquire about a tour on their next vacation. By 2012, that number rose to 19 percent (VFM Leonardo)
  • 36 million Americans using their mobile devices to research vacation options and another 16 million making the reservations on their mobile device (VFM Leonardo)
  • More than 60% of United States users want a smart phone site to load and work properly within 3 seconds or less (Forbes)
  • 87% of global and 85% of American travelers use mobile devices while traveling (Trip Barometer)
  • On holiday, 24% of travelers use their smartphones for reading reviews, while 22% use their tablets (Trip Barometer)
  • On holiday, 27% of travelers are looking for things to do with their smartphone, while 21% use their tablets (Trip Barometer)
  • 66% of US and UK tablet owners use tablets for researching product information before buying (Econsultancy)
  • 63% of US and UK tablet owners are watching videos or browsing photos and checking prices for store information (Econsultancy)
  • 73% of UK and US tablet owners said they use their tablets primarily at home either while watching TV or while in bed at night (Econsultancy)
  • What matters most to US (29%) and UK (31%) tablet owners while browsing a website on a tablet is a similar experience to desktop, but adapted for a mobile screen (Econsultancy)
  • Mobile growth will outpace both total and online growth to account for more than 25% of total vs online travel bookings (Business Insider)
  • Barriers to overcome in mobile are bad UX design, friction that keeps users from completing transactions, and lack of Wi-Fi & 4G coverage (Business Insider)
  • Tablets accounted for 7% of all online travel bookings globaly in the 3rd quarter of 2013 (Business Insider)
  • Mobile apps overtake PC Internet usage in U.S. Mobile devices accounted for 55% of Internet usage in the United States in January 2014. PCs clocked in at 45% (comScore)
  • Consumers use their smartphone (57%) & computer/tablet (66%) to search for local information when they realize they want or need to make a purchase (Google)
  • Consumers use their smartphone (53%) & computer/tablet (83%) to search for local information when they actively look or research their purchase (Google)
  • Consumers use their smartphone (43%) or computer/tablet (64%) to search for local information when they purchase their product/service (Google)
  • The number of Americans who book travel online and on tablets in 2013 increased by 40% compared to 2012, and those using tablets were 20% more likely to make a booking than those using smartphones.(Phocuswright)
  • US sales of travel bookings via mobile devices will go from $6.15B in 2012 to $39.5B in 2015. (Phocuswright)
  • Global smartphone users are expected to touch 1.75bn in 2014 (Eye for travel)
  • Global mobile phone users to reach 4.55bn in 2014 (Eye for travel)
  • Between 2013 and 2017, mobile phone penetration will rise from 61.1% to 69.4% of the global population (Eye for travel)
  • US consumers will spend more time on mobile devices than PCs in 2014: 3 hours per day (Eye for travel)
  • When using Facebook, 37% access the site via desktop, while 68% access the site via mobile (Eye for travel)
  • 37% of the booking in Australia are done on mobile platforms (Criteo, 2015)
  • 45% of connected travelers use their smartphone to book travel activities pre-trip (Trip Barometer, 2015)

 

 

Reviews

  • 95% of respondents read reviews before to booking (Tnooz)
  • Leisure travelers read an average of 6-7 reviews before booking;business travelers read an average of 5 (Tnooz)
  • Leisure travelers spend an average of 30 minutes reading reviews before booking; 10% of travelers spend more than one hour reading reviews (Tnooz)
  • 70% of travelers look at up to 20 reviews in the planning phase (Tnooz)
  • 85% of consumers read up t0 10 reviews before they feel that they can trust a business (Search Engine Land, 2014)
  • People will use OTAs and travel review sites like TripAdvisor more, and use general search engines like Google and deal focused sites like Groupon less (Phocuswright)
  • The most important sources that influenced the decisions of global travelers were travel review websites (69%), online travel agencies (57%), and tour operator sites (56%) (Tourism Research Australia)
  • 70% of global consumers say online consumer reviews are the second most trusted form of advertising (Edelman)
  • TripAdvisor has 260 million unique monthly visitors and 125 million travel reviews and opinions from travellers around the world (TripAdvisor)
  • There are 80+ user contributions to TripAdvisor every minute (TripAdvisor)
  • 93% of global travelers say their booking decisions are impacted by online reviews (Trip Barometer)
  • TripAdvisor reviews are largely positive – 48% are 5 stars, 29% are 4 stars, and the average review score is 4.08 (TripAdvisor)
  • On holiday, 24% of travelers use their smartphones for reading reviews, while 22% use their tablets (Trip Barometer)
  • There are currently 200+ million reviews written across the internet (TrustYou)
  • 81% of all reviews are positive (TrustYou)
  • 79% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations – this is an increase of 10% compared to 2012 (Bright Local Study, 2013)
  • At the end of February 2014, TripAdvisor has 150 million reviews – this is a 50% increase year-on-year, with around 50 million added during 2013. This works out to 90 reviews submitted every minute! (Tnooz)
  • 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations (Search Engine Land, 2014)
  • 39% of consumers read reviews on a regular basis (vs. 32% in 2013). (Search Engine Land, 2014)

Social Media

  • Just about half of the travel brands on Facebook found that their bookings increased because of their presence on the large social networking site (Digital Visitor)
  • 92% of consumers say they trust earned media, such as social media, word of mouth, recommendation from friends and family, above all forms of advertising (Webbed Feet)
  • 85% of customers expect businesses to be active in social media (Vocus)
  • 82% of consumers trust a company more if they are involved with social media (Forbes)
  • 77% of consumers said they are more likely to buy from a company if the CEO uses social media (Forbes)
  • +75% increase occurred last year for trust in social media as it went from 8% to 14% as a trusted information source (Edelman)
  • 36% of online travellers visit social networking sites to influence destination selection (World Travel Market London)
  • One out of three US travellers reference social media as a main source of travel ideas and inspiration (MMGY Global)
  • 52% of travellers use social media to plan a trip (Eye for Travel)
  • 71% of Asian leisure travellers consider personal recommendations for a trip “very important” in the decision-making process (Tnooz)
  • 52% of travellers were so influenced by social media that they changed their original travel plans (Sprout Social)
  • 10% of those who use social media to research travel plans changed agent/operator/website (Sprout Social)
  • 87% of those younger than 34 are using Facebook to solicit advice before making bookings (Stikky Media)
  • 50% of travel companies have said that direct bookings have been generated from social media (Tnooz)
  • 80% of travellers are more likely to book a trip from a friend liking a page rather than responding to a traditional Facebook ad (Eye for Travel)
  • Holiday pictures are the most shared content on and after vacation (Tnooz)
  • 70% of social media users update status/share photos while on holiday (Eye for Travel)
  • 76% of social media users post vacation photos to their social networks (Webbed Feet)
  • 34% of Asian leisure travelers are actively looking for social recommendations and feedback on ideas via social networks such as Facebook and TripAdvisor (Tnooz)
  • Worldwide, there are over 1.5 billion active Facebook users, with 699 million people logging in daily (Zephoria)
  • Every 60 seconds on Facebook, 510 comments are posted, 293,000 statuses are updated, and 136,000 photos are uploaded (Zephoria)
  • 52% of Facebook users say their friends photos inspire their travel plans (Webbed Feet)
  • 23% of Facebook users check their accounts 5 or more times daily (Huffington Post)
  • 42% of stories shared to users’ Facebook timelines in 2012 were travel experiences, making it the top story being shared by users (Tnooz)
  • Twitter is one of the most heavily-trafficked search engines in the world, serving over one billion queries per day (Stikky Media)
  • Twitter has 500 million registered users whose posts amount to 175 million tweets per day (Stikky Media)
  • 53% of people on Twitter mention products and/or services in their tweets (SocialNomics)
  • 36% of online travelers visit social networking sites to influence destination selection  (World Travel Market London)
  • TripAdvisor has a monthly visitor inflow of 57 million people, as well as a member base that exceeds 36 million (TripAdvisor)
  • 53% of travellers were adamant they would never book with any business that didn’t attain a TripAdvisor profile (Sparkloft Media)
  • Social media is now a genuine marketing platform, with 93% of marketers using social media to their advantage (Social Media B2B)
  • 52% of travelers change their plans based on social media activity and responses (Media Bistro)
  • Social media is one of the most successful ways to market your travel services, with more than 50% of direct bookings coming from social media accounts (Frederic Gonzalo)
  • Social media can reduce marketing costs by up to 24%, allowing your profit margins to increase significantly (Frederic Gonzalo)In 2011, about 62 percent of industry businesses had a Twitter profile. By 2012, that number had jumped to 75 percent and it continues to climb today (Frederic Gonzalo)
  • More than 51% of travel brands that had a Facebook presence noted that they had an increase in business that year (Digital Visitor)
  • 71% of travel brands on Facebook found that they had better engagement and conversation with their customers (Digital Visitor)

Millennials

  • Millennials touch their smartphones 43x per day (SDL)
  • Young travelers now represent 20% of international tourism (WYSE)
  • The rise in youth spending “vastly outstripped” that of other international travelers whose spending increased by just 3% over the same period (WYSE)
  • Youth aged 15-29 travelled to Australia for holidays (42%), education (20%), visiting friends and relatives (15%), business (8%), and employment (6%) (Tourism Australia)
  • 58% of Millennials (20% more than older generations) prefer to travel with friends – they can’t bear the feeling of having missed out! (HVS)
  • 70% of millennials indicated they expect special places to offer immersive experiences that are interactive and hands on (HVS)
  • 1 out of 4 millennials are planning more overnight leisure trips in 2014 compared to 2013 (MMGY Global)
  • Millennials are expected to spend incrementally more on travel services than any other age group in 2014 (MMGY Global)
  • 6 out of 10 millennials would rather spend their money on experiences than material things (MMGY Global)
  • 2 out of 3 millennials touch 2 different devices (mostly a smartphone and laptop) (SDL)
  • 44% of millennials expect their experience with your company to be consistent regardless of channel. (SDL)
  • Millennials will choose to connect with companies on social media, but want something in return (predominantly perks & discounts) (SDL)
  • Millennials discover content mostly through social media networks (SDL)
  • Half of millennials in Germany, Netherlands, and Norway, speak something other than their local tongue at home (SDL)
  • A third of millennials in Australia and UK speak a language other than English at home (SDL)
  • A quarter of American millennials are more comfortable with a language other than English (SDL)

Video

  • 44% of Asian leisure travellers are watching videos about a destination during the research phase (Tnooz)
  • 62% of leisure travelers and 74% of business travelers will want to see a video before they make a final decision (Frederic Gonzalo)
  • 62% of travelers watched an online video or commented on an online video as they were searching for activities that were available at their particular destination (Frederic Gonzalo)
  • 45% of leisure travelers booked instantly after watching a video of the travel activity (Google)
  • 72% of business travelers and 74% of affluent travelers booked upon watching a video (Google)
  • 62% of travelers want to watch videos of tours, sightseeing and cruises (as well as hotel rooms and properties, airlines) (Google)
  • 58% of travelers want to watch a video of a trip review from an experienced traveler (Google)
  • 58% of tourists enjoy checking out videos from travel channels (Google)
  • 56% like watching trip reviews from like travelers (Google)
  • 48% enjoy watching user-generated content as opposed to business-created content (Google)
  • 45% of people on the internet watch at least 1 video online every month (ComScore, 2015)
  • The average internet user is exposed to 32.2 videos a month (Comscore, 2015)
  • 100.000.000 (100 million) Internet user watch a video everyday (Comscore, 2015)
  • 90% of online shoppers at a major retailer’s website said they find video helpful in making shopping an buying behaviors. (Comscore, 2015)
  • 16 minutes and 49 seconds, is how much time the average user spends watching online video ads every month (Comscore, 2015)
  • YouTube overall, and even YouTube on mobile alone, reaches more 18-34 and 18-49 year-olds than any cable network in the U.S (Youtube, 2015)
  • 80% of YouTube’s views are from outside of the U.S. (Youtube, 2015)
  • More than half of YouTube views come from mobile devices. (Youtube, 2015)

Distribution

  • 51,9% of tour operators are working with travel agents to resell their tours (Rezdy, 2015)
  • About 82% of tour operators are listed on review websites like TripAdvisor and Yelp (Rezdy, 2015)
  • In the United States and Canada, the average commission rate is about 15% (Rezdy, 2015)