Australian travellers are embracing new technologies

22 November, 2018

Australian travellers are embracing new technology such as voice search and biometrics as part of modern travel.

New research from the Travelport 2018 Global Digital Traveller Survey revealed that 33% of Australian travellers are using voice search - such as Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant - to research travel and for a new technology it is already increasing its impact on users, with 17% of respondents stating that voice search had the greatest influence when travelling.

Travelport's Managing Director Australia and New Zealand said: "It's really only in the past year that the Australian market has had consumer voice search products like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant enter our homes and yet we're already seen Australian traveler embracing this technology."

"What is most interesting from this research is that it points to a shift in travel behavior; the embrace of voice, chat bots and even biometrics shows that travellers are happy to use digital tools alongside human touch points if it improves the overall experience and reduces annoyances like time spent waiting in line, as this technology matures over the next few years we'll see a much difference travel experience."

Some of the notable findings include:

  • 33% of travellers use voice to search either during booking or whilst travelling and for a new technology it is increasing its impact on users, with 17% of respondents stating that voice search had the greatest influence when travelling
  • Over half of travellers would happily use biometric scanning to reduce the need for waiting in security lines
  • In cases of travel disruption, 22% of travellers prefer to be served by a person via chat service and 17% would consider using their mobile to be served by self-service bots