Impact of technology on travel and tourism - statistics & facts

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Published by Statista Research Department, Jun 13, 2022

People’s need to travel faster, safer, and more efficiently has fueled the invention of great technological solutions. During the last decades, the impact of technology on travel has become even more significant thanks to the application of new IT services, leading to the rise of the online travel market and the increasing digitalization of the travel industry. An important achievement behind the online travel experience dates back to the 1960s when the first global distribution system (GDS) was introduced. GDSs are online networks connecting suppliers - such as airlines, hotels, or cruise lines - to providers, like travel agencies and online travel agencies. Having access to the suppliers’ inventory, like the number of seats or hotel rooms available, GDSs allow providers to access such information, helping customers book multiple travel services at once. In 2021, the market size of the global distribution system industry worldwide was estimated at approximately six billion U.S. dollars. That year, the air distribution business segment of Amadeus, one of the most renowned GDSs worldwide, generated roughly one billion U.S. dollars in revenue.

The use of technology in the travel and tourism industry

Among the technology trends shaping travel and tourism is cloud computing, which is used to access, manage, and store data online. According to a 2021 study, over half of European travel agencies and tour operators bought cloud computing services used over the internet that year, while only 29 percent did the same in 2016. When focusing on the hotel industry, a January 2022 survey analyzing the most popular technologies adopted by hoteliers worldwide showed that a quarter of facilities implemented a self-service check-in offer during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Meanwhile, looking at the travel and tourism businesses most likely to accept cryptocurrency payments, it was estimated that around one thousand accommodation establishments worldwide offered cryptocurrency solutions as of March 2021, while just 114 tour operators and travel agencies did the same.

Travel apps: two countries dominate the market

Travel apps address a wide range of services within the travel and tourism sector, including travel booking, ride-hailing, and reservation of hotels and short-term rentals. According to Statista’s Digital Market Outlook, the revenue of travel apps worldwide amounted to 0.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, recovering after the drop experienced in the first year of the health crisis. When breaking down the travel app market by country, China and the United States emerged as the leading players, with combined revenue of nearly 164 million U.S. dollars in 2021. That year, Booking.com was by far the most downloaded online travel agency app worldwide, followed by Airbnb and Hopper. Although Hopper ranked third in terms of global downloads, it reported the highest increase in downloads among leading travel booking apps in the United States in the second quarter of 2021.

This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.

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