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Driven by the popularity of peer-to-peer, Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb are some of the most popular apps users choose for travel and transportation, according to a report published Wednesday.
Given the rise of apps aimed at travelers, app analytics company App Annie decided to take a deep dive into this specific category of apps and break them into more well-defined groups: ground transportation; hotel and lodging; travel aggregator; and airline.
The result shows that the sharing economy is a dominant force in mobile apps when it comes to ground transportation and hotel and lodging. For travel aggregators — apps that scour many hotel and flight sources — and in airline travel, more-established companies, like Hotels.com, Expedia, Delta Airlines, and Southwest Airlines, fill the top.
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“The sharing economy has revolutionized the way consumers live, work, and interact with their communities,” reads the report. “What originated as a creative solution to make ends meet during the great recession has proven itself to be a sustainable alternative to traditional consumption.”
These peer-to-peer apps accounted for two-thirds of the downloads among the Top 10 apps in ground transportation. In hotel and lodging, peer-to-peer apps accounted for nearly half the downloads.
It’s another way smartphones have changed an entire industry. By 2015, a quarter of US online sales will be made through a mobile device, according to the Boston Consulting Group. App Annie said it’s the result of younger travelers who live their lives online and will quickly account for most of the spenders in the travel industry. The trend is pushing the travel industry to invest more in mobile.
“Historically, the travel industry has been slower to embrace new technologies…but the tides are turning,” the report said.
