According to the “Survey on the Relationship of Usage of Smartphones and Travel Consumption (2014)” conducted by Japan Tourism Marketing Co. (JTM), the consumers who made online reservation or purchased travels using smartphones expanded to 28.3% from 19.4% of the last year’s survey. The most purchased travel related merchandise was “accommodations” (51.2%) followed by “domestic tours” (32.4%.) As for the “on the spot tours” (4.8%), with potential demands for reservations during travels, surprisingly fell short of “flights” (18.7%) and “overseas tours” (11.6%.)
From JTM Press ReleaseAs motivator for going on a trip or factors for deciding destination, “conversation with friend or family” (motivator: 62.0%, decision: 54.1%) was outstandingly high, then “TV” (motivator: 14.3%, decision: 12.1%) came in 2nd and “brochure from travel agent” (motivator: 10.1%, decision: 10.3%) came in 3rd; all those information were from analog media.
Sources for obtaining detailed information after travel destination was decided, the most popular choice was “conversation with friend or family” (31.8%), followed by internet oriented sources: “search on portal sites such as Yahoo! and Google” (21.4%), “travel agent or other travel related site” (18.2%) and “accommodation site” (16.2%.) However, “posting of Facebook or Twitter” and “communication with friends on Facebook or Twitter” drew less than 5%, revealing that SNSs are not used as means for motivator for going on a trip, factors for deciding destination or sources for obtaining detailed information.
From JTM Press ReleaseThe most used smartphone function was “message/chat application” such as “LINE” (31.1%) and it exceeded “e-mail” (28.0%) which was the leading choice in last year’s survey. However, given multiple choices, “e-mail” (88.9%) and “phone call” (77.7%) overtake, therefore JTM analyzed that the consumers utilize different functions depending on circumstance or the person.
The survey was conducted from September 6 to 11, targeted at 18 to 69 years old living in the Tokyo metropolitan area, Nagoya area and Osaka area and collected 2,060 valid replies.
(Travel Voice Editorial Department)
