Mobile Solutions are transforming the way we live and per form our daily activities, and how enterprises can engage with their potential customers. And its impact on travel industry is no different. With the rapid ennoblement of the mobile devices, it has become imperative for the travel industry to respond to the growing demand of mobile users and the mobile workforce with the help of real time, on the spot and responsive travel services.

1. Mobile Solutions for the Travel & Tourism Industry
A Strategic Approach to Serve a Demanding Audience

2. A Cygnet Infotech Whitepaper : Mobile Solutions for the Travel & Tourism Industry
Introduction
Millions of people take to the roads and skies every year to visit or travel to their favorite holiday destination. As the world goes
mobile, travelers are using their mobile devices to book tickets, search for leisure and adventure activities and to gather
information about various travel destinations.
Let’s have a look at some of the most interesting facts about the impact of mobile solutions on the travel and tourism industry:
• According to the latest findings of 2013 edition of the ForeSee Mobile Satisfaction Index Travel
Edition, which surveyed almost 6000 consumers during February 2013, the use of the travel apps
grew 116% among the United State Smartphone users from July 2011 to July 2012.
• A survey shows that 60% of the mobile users have downloaded and used a travel related app.
• 40% of the mobile users have admitted that they are using mobile apps to plan their trips.
• Almost 12% of the mobile users are booking trips using their mobile devices.
• 77% of the mobile users use travel apps in their homes while 13% book at work.
Recent Statistics

3. It is quite clear that mobile users love to use mobile apps to plan from the statistics described earlier, book and
manage their travelling needs. This has led the travel industry to go for more innovative and mobile-friendly
solutions. Today, many travel industry leaders are seeking innovative ways to improve and enhance customer
experiences. What is getting more attention is MOBILITY.
Mobile Solutions are transforming the way we live and perform our daily activities, and how enterprises can
engage with their potential customers. And its impact on travel industry is no different. With the rapid
enablement of the mobile devices, it has become imperative for the travel industry to respond to the growing
demand of mobile users and the mobile workforce with the help of real time, on the spot and responsive travel
services.
In other words, the travel & tourism industry is alive and expanding its reach to the increasing number of mobile
users with more sophisticated offerings. In this whitepaper, we’ll try to have an insight about what are the
critical challenges faced by today’s travel and tourism industry and how mobile solutions can help businesses
overcome those issues.
A Cygnet Infotech Whitepaper : Mobile Solutions for the Travel & Tourism Industry
Travel and Tourism Industry

4. Time for the Travel Industry to go Mobile
In a recent Global Eyefor Travel poll, it has been revealed that almost 60% of online travel companies do not have a mobile
friendly website and 71% of them do not have a mobile app!
There are tons of articles and presentations centered on the statistics highlighting the growth of mobility and the significance of
this new trend in the travel industry but still many of the travel industry leaders are not considering mobility as their business
strategy. If you’re one of them, then it is time for you to change your perception and start adopting mobility solutions as it is no
longer just an alternative.
It’s no longer just a handful of people using mobile devices to access or search for travel related information – it’s millions.
Jeremy Copp, VP Mobile Europe, comScore, has shared that in the EU 5 countries (France, UK, Germany, Spain, Italy), almost 11.3
million consumers accessed travel services through their mobile devices in February 2011.
A Cygnet Infotech Whitepaper : Mobile Solutions for the Travel & Tourism Industry

5. For the travel companies that are investing in mobile,
experience has been quite positive and they have
derived significant benefits from utilizing mobile
solutions.
Moreover, the travel apps like Airport Transit Guide,
aMetro, EveryTrail Pro, FlightTrack etc. have made a
huge impact on users by offering an enhanced travel
experience on the go.
A Cygnet Infotech Whitepaper : Mobile Solutions for the Travel & Tourism Industry

6. Major Challenges of Travel Industry
Today, the Travel Industry finds itself on the threshold of a technological transformation as important as the internet itself. With
the immense popularity and globalization of the Smartphone devices and technology and other mobile devices, the travel
industry is struggling to deal with fierce competition and the need to adapt to the mobilizing world.
While frequent travelers are among the savviest users of mobile devices and technology – and often the most demanding, it has
become quite critical for the travel agencies to serve all their mobility needs to survive in this neck-to-neck competitive
marketplace. Let’s have a look at how mobile solutions address a few major challenges of the travel industry:
• Inability to do targeted marketing – the travel needs of a single family is much different than that of a travel-savvy person and
a one-size-fits-all marketing approach will not help you reach a targeted audience. However, mobile apps can significantly
reduce your marketing efforts by providing fast and reliable access to data on the go.
• Poor service levels due to lack of sense of responsibility towards tourists. Mobile solutions can offer self service
opportunities.
A Cygnet Infotech Whitepaper : Mobile Solutions for the Travel & Tourism Industry

7. • Unavailability of skilled manpower creates its own problems. Mobile solutions can eliminate the need of human
resources by automating the travelling process.
• Lack of security is a prime concern for the travelers and travel industry can easily cope up with it by utilizing the
mobile technology to securely maintain the confidential details of the travelers.
• Cross-platform compatibility – To effectively market to the potential travelers, travel agencies must be able to
reach through the various wireless media like tablet, smartphone and other mobile devices, and enterprise
solutions enable cross-platform compatibility on the go.
• Managing rising fuel costs, reducing margins, increasing turnover and tons of other travel related issues, which
at the end impose increased competitive pressure on the travel industry. Mobility solutions can address all
such decision making issues.
Not only these, but enterprise-level mobile solutions help travel organizations to manage a whole host of tasks at
their fingertips in a highly secured and reliable wireless environment.
A Cygnet Infotech Whitepaper : Mobile Solutions for the Travel & Tourism Industry

8. Advantages of Mobile Solutions in Travel &
Tourism Industry
Mobile technology and solutions offer a gamut of benefits to the travel and tourism industry. Building and deploying enterprise
level mobility solutions for travel industry can significantly impact operations by enhancing the key business process that drive
more business by well-managed tracking, reporting and routing of the travel operations.
In general the benefits of enterprise-level mobile solutions can be summarized as follows:
• Simplify the booking process. Nowadays no one would like to go through the lengthy booking process whenever they plan
holidays or travelling. Making it simple, quick and comfortable will surely attract maximum number of consumers. Moreover,
mobile apps will also store passport details, payment details, travel preferences and tons of other critical details.
• Enable travel organizations to showcase discounts and promotional offers. It will enable travel agencies or organizations to
deliver information about their latest discounts and promotion offers to their customer’s personal devices. Getting special
discount alerts on the smartphone makes it easy for the traveler to book their travelling requirements on the go.
• Enhanced custom service & satisfaction. Mobile enables travel agencies to get in touch with their customers and resolve their
issues within a short period of time, which at the end enhances customer services while achieving higher customer
satisfaction.
A Cygnet Infotech Whitepaper : Mobile Solutions for the Travel & Tourism Industry

9. • Ease of retrieving details about the travel destination From the customer’s point of view, it is very crucial to have all
the required information or data related to their travel destination. Making it easy for them to get all the details like
local hotels, nearby restaurants, some useful phrases in the local language, emergency contact details etc. through
their mobile devices will greatly reduce their overhead of searching for such crucial details.
• Reduces overall investment while increasing profit margins It greatly reduces the overall travelling cost as travelling
companies can easily market and promote their services through the mobile apps, which at the end help them offer
more effective services at great margins. Moreover, from the customer’s point of view, it help them plan their next
travel within a second while leveraging from special discounts and offers, as opposed to spending time for searching
cost-effective deals over the internet.
• Helps you enhancing your business presence over multiple mobile devices With the advancement in technology,
internet users have started using a variety of wireless devices including smartphones, tablets and other mobile
devices. Having a mobile solution that can run on multiple mobile devices will give travel agencies an edge over the
competitors by having a presence over multiple mobile devices.
• Highly secured Cyber crime is a major concern for the travel and tourism industry. In recent years, the travel industry
has faced some of the biggest frauds from their online websites. But mobile apps are highly secured compared to the
websites. Mobile apps are created keeping mind all the security aspects, which ensures almost zero tolerance.
A Cygnet Infotech Whitepaper : Mobile Solutions for the Travel & Tourism Industry

10. The emergence of the mobility has opened the new doors of opportunities for the travel and tourism industry. Enterprise mobility
addresses critical challenges faced by the travel industry and has made it more productive, customer-centric and responsive.
For Travelers:
•Booking & Checking In
•Finding Destinations
•Nearby Services & Restaurants
•Social Media Sharing
•Travel Maps
•Mobile Route Planner
•Driving Directions
•Mobile Flight Tracking
•Local Weather Information
•Translation Dictionary
•Guide to Popular places
•Guide to hotel & accommodation
•List of Holidays
•Offline maps
For Travel Operators:
•Trip Journal
•Planner
•Budget Planner
•Enable Direct Offers & Deals
•Get in touch with customers
•24x7 Availability
•Instant updates
•Mobile Payments
•Automation of administration,
service level
•Parcel Delivery
•Inventory Status
•Vehicle Location Tracking
•Flight & Bus Schedules
A Cygnet Infotech Whitepaper : Mobile Solutions for the Travel & Tourism Industry
Advantages of Mobile Solutions in Travel &
Tourism Industry

11. The Case Study – Whale Tourism Application
Cygnet Infotech developed an application that provides a platform to the NSW National Parks
and Wildlife Services to increase their interaction with people and promote tourism.
It encourages people to travel to NSW coastal National parks to participate in Whale watching
and other activities for spreading awareness about conserving wildlife.
Using the application as a Whale watching guide the user can view all the information about
whales and other marine species.
Highlights:
• Whales & other marine species spotted
• Whale watching tips
• See the Latest sightings where tourists have spotted whales via Google Map (via GPS)
• How to get involved in marine life preservation activities
A Cygnet Infotech Whitepaper : Mobile Solutions for the Travel & Tourism Industry

12. The Future…
• Recently ZDNet has revealed that Transport for London is planning to allow London Commuters to use their mobile phones
and bank cars for “Ticketless travel” across the metropolis.
• Google projects that almost 8% of mobile users will be booking travel from their smartphones
• 5% of the apps at the Apple App Store are travel apps
• Almost 75% of the smartphones connect to a free airport Wi-Fi network
• By 2014, mobile internet would take over desktop internet usage
• By 2016, mobile commerce is expected to grow by whooping 55%
• By 2021, British consumers will spend as much as $30.5 billion on the purchase of their mobile phones
The travel industry is getting more competitive, and innovations through mobile technology for leisure and tourism are heating
up. Therefore, those travel operators or agencies seeking effective communication with their customers, to deliver live updates,
sell more tours and excursions, as well as to increase the brand awareness, should go mobile with enterprise mobility solutions
to survive in this competitive edge…’
A Cygnet Infotech Whitepaper : Mobile Solutions for the Travel & Tourism Industry

13. Cygnet Infotech provides mobile application development services for many industries including travel & tourism industry.
If you wish to know more about our services, write to us at inquiry@cygnet-infotech.com
Talk to us about using Mobile Solutions in Travel and Tourism
Tel: (India) +91-79-30487400 | (USA) +1-646-915-0021
Email: info@cygnet-infotech.com
Web: www.cygnet-infotech.com
Contact us
A Cygnet Infotech Whitepaper : Mobile Solutions for the Travel & Tourism Industry
All images in this whitepaper have been used for illustrative purposes. Cygnet does not claim rights to any image except the logo.