Are travelers early adopters?

In past years, Phocuswright fielded Traveler Technology surveys focused primarily on measuring the rise of mobile device usage for shopping and booking, and the influence of social media on destination and purchase decisions.

Nowadays, mobile devices are ubiquitous, and the influence of social media on travel decision making is well understood. But travelers’ relationship with technology continues to evolve, with the latest tech-driven services and hardware devices delighting, frustrating and even unsettling travelers young and old.

According to Phocuswright's latest research report, which is part one of a two-part series, Travelers and Tech 2024: Attitudes and Usage, half of travelers consider themselves mainstream adopters of technology. Early and late adopters are exactly split at a quarter each. Gender skews exist on the more extreme ends of technology adoption, especially for early adopters.

This two-part Travelers and Tech study examines U.S. digital travelers’ usage and perceptions of websites vs. apps (this report), as well as advanced technology including generative AI, virtual and augmented reality, the Internet of Things, digital identity, biometrics and robotics (part 2 coming soon). The full study reveals travelers’ usage, satisfaction levels and concerns regarding the increasingly common technologies used in planning, booking and experiencing travel today.

• What is the state of travelers’ awareness and attitudes towards and motivations for using or avoiding certain technologies?
• What roles do mobile apps play in the traveler journey, in comparison and contrast to websites?
• What are consumers’ main pain points and key challenges with increasingly popular technologies?
• Which technologies are competitive differentiators?
• How do consumers feel about sharing personal data with travel suppliers, and are some types of data sharing more acceptable than others?

Phocuswright is the travel industry's leading driver of great decisions.

Make confident, data-driven decisions that outpace your competition by leveraging our in-depth insights and analysis. We offer subscriptions, individual reports, custom research and multi-client special projects to make confident, data-driven decisions that outpace your competition.

Learn more about Phocuswright research offerings here.