THE e- and m-commerce markets in Singapore have been expanding explosively in the last few years but a fair number of travel businesses remain stuck in the dark ages.
Paypal revealed at the PayPal Insights – The Travel Edition – Southeast Asia event today that online travel purchases have soared by 38 per cent between 2011 and 2014, while mobile travel purchases grew at a rate almost twice that at 65 per cent.
Rahul Shinghal, country manager, South-east Asia, PayPal said: “The rise of mobile has been phenomenal. We have been talking about it for a few years but it has become mainstream now, with markets like China where mobile has become bigger than online.”
However, despite the growing m-commerce market, the report showed that many travel businesses in the South-east Asian region still have no mobile presence.
Such companies account for 49 per cent in Singapore, 46 per cent in Malaysia and 29 per cent in Thailand.
Meanwhile, online travel merchants such as Expedia are also seeing the same trends in the digital travel market and have been adapting to more mobile-savvy travellers.
David Yong, head of product, Expedia, said: “Roughly between one-quarter to one-third of our customers are coming to our site and doing transactions through mobile now. This was a channel that didn’t exist before and our mobile presence was non-existent three years ago.”
Yong revealed that the OTA would be enhancing its mobile itinerary product next year to include destination-based activity offers that customers can purchase at their point of arrival. The app also comes with push notifications in order to facilitate upselling opportunities.
Another key finding was the rise of spontaneous travel. About 54 per cent of those surveyed book trips within a week of deciding to travel and 38 per cent book tickets within a week of actual travel dates, as stated in PayPal’s The Digital Future of Travel report.
This last-minute booking trend is also evident within Expedia, said Yong, who shared that over 50 per cent of bookings on the company’s mobile app were for the same day.
