Research released for World Tourism Day shows the most-used premium and low-cost airline mobile apps, as well as the most searched-for destinations. The data is published at a time when business travellers are increasingly extending work trips for leisure.
British Airways dominated the mobile market of UK users for premium airlines, according to a study by mobile data platform Ogury, with 57.09 per cent of unique visitors in the last month. Emirates and Virgin Atlantic secured spots two and three (28.95 and 18.49 per cent), while Qatar and Etihad claimed numbers four and five (12.36 and 10.48 per cent).
In the low-cost carrier market, Thomson Airways (which is changing to TUI) took first place with 35.8 per cent of app downloads, closely followed by Easyjet and Ryanair at 32.71 and 28.43 per cent.
Meanwhile, data collected by marketing suite SEMrush shows Cyprus is the most searched-for travel destination when it comes to booking flights, with Spain nipping at its heels and Malta falling not too far behind. However, Malta took the lion’s share of hotel bookings, coming in at more than 30,000 searches above Cyprus, Ireland and France.
World Tourism Day this year focuses on sustainable travel and how tourism (both business and leisure) can be a catalyst for positive environmental, social and economic change.
Graham Kingsmill, UK MD at Egencia, said: “32 per cent of employees now travel for work once or twice a month, and 71 per cent of business trips are two to three nights in duration. It’s no surprise then that 43 per cent of all business trips across domestic and international destinations turn into leisure trips (‘bleisure’), allowing travellers to explore the city as tourists before going home, according to a recent Expedia survey.
“In today’s race to provide workplace perks, a policy that explicitly permits extending business trips for leisure is an easy way to communicate that a company values employees’ work-life balance and a way of indirectly boosting tourism. Companies have a good reason to embrace it – we’re only likely to see this trend increase over the coming years.”