With tech comes ease - at least that’s how travellers are seeing it.
Travellers are using technology to optimise their trips, according to
SITA's latest “Passenger IT Insights 2023,” based primarily on an
online survey of nearly 6,500 respondents from 27 countries across the
Americas, Asia, Europe, Middle East and Africa.
The report marks a continued rise in the use of technology that SITA noted in its report last year.
David Lavorel, SITA CEO, said that when considering whether to book a
flight, experience at the airport is an increasingly important factor,
along with cost and availability of destinations. And passengers are
looking to technology to facilitate that experience.
“Passengers are pointing to a clear way forward for the industry: now
more than ever they recognise smart technologies as key to streamlining
travel while reducing its environmental impacts, both for air travel
alone and for the broader intermodal ecosystem,” Lavorel said.
The survey also found an increased preference for mobile apps over
web for bookings. In 2019, 77% of respondents said they use the web and
8% use mobile, while in 2023 those figures are 70% and 22%,
respectively.
“The use of mobile devices has grown steadily over the years, and
travellers rely more on mobile apps for booking and connectivity during
dwell time and on board,” Lavorel said.
“We see that passengers’ behaviour has changed for biometric identity
verification being more accepted, especially for boarding, security and
identity verification.”
When asked about comfort levels with biometric identification
throughout the journey, respondents this year gave a score of 7.36 out
of 10, up from 7.26 in 2022.
The 2023 report found that travellers are also using technology to
address “pain points” during their time at the airport, to support
sustainability measures for air transport and to streamline intermodal
travel.
Regarding sustainability, SITA found that respondents are
increasingly interested in technology to support sustainability, such as
flight path optimisation to reduce fuel usage, with about two-thirds
saying they value these types of solutions for airlines and airports, up
from about half in 2022.
The report also tracked usage of different kinds of technology during
bag tagging, bag dropping, identity control, dwell time, boarding, on
board, at border control and during bag collection.
While figures vary for each stage, the report says one point is
clear, there is an “appetite for the use of mobile technologies
throughout the passenger journey.”
Source: PhocusWire