Many people can now afford to travel because of technological advancements and globalization. Furthermore, the tourism market remains a very promising sector with a huge and stable audience. Developing a travel app for a company in this area can be an effective approach to expand the number of potential clients, enhance market positions, and encourage overall growth.
In the sections below, we’ll go over this type of app in greater depth and provide helpful hints on how to create a successful travel app.
Hotel booking, airline ticket booking, apartment rental, and general trip planning apps are all popular among travellers. They receive vital notifications on their mobile devices, save loyalty programme cards in dedicated apps, track routes with proper software, and do a lot more. Here are some data that show why travel app development is a great investment opportunity:
Smartphones are used for 70% of spontaneous bookings and travels; 64% of respondents would be glad to take a virtual tour of their future lodging facility before booking it;
Tourism-related digital sales climbed by 10% in 2018 to $694 billion (eMarketer); travel applications are consistently in the top 10 most popular categories on the App Store.
Must-Have Features for Creating a Travel App
Many functionalities can be found in a travel application. Furthermore, depending on the product type, this list will vary. We can, however, highlight a few of the most significant ones to pay attention to first.
1. The user’s personal space
A travel app is a tool that you can utilize on your own time. As a result, it is required to create a personal user account. Users can keep personal information in it to expedite activities such as rebooking and payment transfers, as well as check their booking and trip history.
2. Data aggregation from outside parties
If you want to show data from third-party services to your users, you’ll need to use the API to create a number of integrations. You can enable sections with information on vehicle rentals, flight schedules and rates, and other comparable information.
3. Search and filtering options
If your app contains a lot of content, you’ll need to include a built-in search feature. Furthermore, the ability to set up multiple filters for more tailored results will help consumers avoid becoming lost in a sea of data and discover what they need quickly.
4. Geolocation and navigation
If you want to create a travel app, navigation and maps are essential components. Geolocation technology is used to implement this feature. While hiking or for other activities, users can benefit from a practical navigation system. For example, the map could show neighbouring tourist attractions or hotels in the city.
5. A reservation system
Users should be able to book their preferred hotel, airline tickets, or car straight through the app at any time that is convenient for them. User personal data, on the other hand, can be automatically retrieved from the user profile. You can provide users an exclusive loyalty programme if you form an agreement with some service providers, pushing them to utilize your product services.
6. Make a schedule
Allow users to see the entire trip itinerary in one place, from beginning to end. This feature is convenient to use because it eliminates the need to utilise multiple apps, and it encourages potential customers to use only one.
7. Important event notices
Your app can remind users about significant events based on the scheduled vacation itinerary. It may, for example, notify them of a pending flight, hotel check-out, or facility work schedule, among other things.
8. Feedback from users
People want to not only see intriguing locations, but also to share their experiences with others and learn about other people’s perspectives. This feature will have a significant impact on app conversion and will encourage users to use your app more frequently because they will no longer have to access many tourist websites.
In many ways, the world-famous Yelp and TripAdvisor owe their success to user-generated reviews and ratings.
9. Forecast of the weather
Another potentially intriguing function to include in your app is weather predictions. When people want to go trekking, for example, weather conditions are critical. Many APIs are available to implement this feature, including Forecast.io, AccuWeather, OpenWeatherMap, and YahooWeather.
10. Washroom Finder
Have you ever been on the road and needed to use the restroom? Thousands of tourists are affected by this circumstance and must endure it.
This is an important feature to include in your travel app or website while designing it. Toilet Finder and SitOrSquat, for example, have become extremely popular among travelers and the general public for locating a restroom in an emergency.
11.Time Converter for the Whole World
When it comes to tracking the precise changes in clock hours, crossing time zones can be rather confusing for travelers. It’s an easy function to include in a travel app. As this may deter someone from installing another. Travel app developers may learn a thing or two from apps like Time Buddy, which saves users time (pun intended) by calculating the correct clock times for different time zones throughout the world.
You can implement all of these services or start with an MVP and enhance its capabilities later, depending on the product’s goal, the customer’s financial capacity, and the development approach.
How to Make Money from a Travel App
There are numerous ways to monetise travel apps and generate significant revenue. We can think of a few of the most essential. They are used by the market’s major corporations, depending on their business models.
Model for advertising: This is a popular choice among content-type apps, which are essentially databases, such as city guides or catalogs of notable sites, facilities, and so on.
Paid downloads: When users download an app from Google Play or the App Store, they pay a one-time fee.
Making premium features available: The software itself may be free, but users may be charged to access premium content or additional features.
Subscription. In this situation, consumers or counterparties are charged a commission fee for a set length of time (from one month to one year).
The commission of the agency: This is another popular monetization strategy in the travel industry. For each booking or purchase made through your app, you can earn affiliate commissions (hotel booking, air tickets booking, car rental, etc.).
Direct sales are the most common type of sales: Companies that own hotels, apartment complexes, or travel agencies can broaden their appeal by selling their products and services directly through their own app.
Final Words
Launching a travel app may be an excellent method for tourism businesses to expand their customer base, boost existing customer loyalty, and differentiate themselves from competition. It can also be a stand-alone solution created for a large and solvent audience, which is the most important requirement for a successful firm.
We’ve already covered the most common features that should be included in this type of app in this article. You can always start with an MVP and gradually increase its features while taking into account user input. Travel apps can be monetized in a variety of ways, ensuring a quick return on your investment.
