Methodology
The online travel statistics and trends were carried out via Osint (Open Source Intelligence) techniques to help find and then analyse information for research.
Analysing by using open source means applying several analytical methodologies to collect, process, and analyse the information.
The goal at the end of the research is to transform the confusing data that has been collected into knowledge that can offer context and useful information to others.
Some Of The Osint Sources Include
Scientific and technical commercial databases;
Official and unofficial data of institutional bodies;
Information from professional and academic sources;
Search engines used both with Boolean operators and with advanced operators;
Meta-browsers;
Software for the analysis of the social graph;
Software for the analysis of metadata and geolocation;
Social network;
Domain intelligence tools;
Network analysis;
Newspapers and magazines, institutional publications.
Given the consistency of the information to be compared and considering any cases of harmony, we inform you that the processing may present limited cases of inaccuracies.
Market Research
With 2025 serving as the base year for the most recent full-year statistics, Covid-19 can now be treated as historical context rather than an ongoing force shaping the industry.
The digital travel market continues to grow at a considerable pace. The global market for online travel bookings was estimated at around $620–660 billion in 2025, depending on how the market is defined. Growth is being driven by rising smartphone usage, digital booking platforms, AI-powered personalisation and sustained global appetite for travel.
International tourist arrivals reached approximately 1.52 billion in 2025 – 4% higher than in 2024 and a record high for international tourism. UN Tourism is forecasting a further 3–4% increase in 2026, provided there is no significant deterioration in the global economy or geopolitical conditions.
Key Travel And Tourism Statistics
The global travel and tourism sector contributed $11.6 trillion to GDP in 2025, equivalent to 9.8% of the world economy – encompassing direct, indirect and induced effects.
International tourist arrivals reached approximately 1.52 billion in 2025, a new record confirming that the industry has surpassed pre-pandemic levels.
The global online travel market was estimated at $622.6 billion (IMARC), while Grand View Research placed the online travel agency segment alone at $663.7 billion. The difference reflects how the market is measured.
Online bookings are expected to account for around 73% of all travel sales by the end of the decade.
The smartphone has become central to the travel experience. IATA's Global Passenger Survey 2025 shows that travellers are increasingly using their phones to book flights, manage payments, check in, access loyalty programmes and track their luggage.
Digital assistants, AI tools and personalised recommendations are playing an ever-greater role in holiday planning – particularly amongst younger travellers.
UK residents made an estimated 94.6 million trips abroad in 2024, spending approximately £78.6 billion overseas.
The most popular destinations for British travellers were Spain, France, Italy, Turkey and the United States.
Cost and value for money were the most important factors for British holiday-makers ahead of 2025 – 64% of British adults planning to book a holiday cited price and affordability as decisive (YouGov).
In the UK, 51% of travellers book directly through airlines or hotels, whilst 48% use online travel agencies.
Sunday is, on average, the cheapest day to book flights according to Expedia and ARC's 2025 report – though this should be taken as a general observation rather than a reliable rule, given that flight prices are governed by dynamic pricing.
Short breaks, flexible travel dates, price-tracking tools and comparison sites have all become important features of how consumers book, particularly as the cost-of-living squeeze makes travellers more price-conscious.
How Many People Book Hotels Online In 2025?
Online hotel and accommodation bookings continued to grow strongly in 2025:
Booking Holdings reported approximately 1.2 billion room nights booked in 2025 – an increase of 8% on 2024. The company's gross travel bookings reached $186.1 billion, up 12% year-on-year.
Expedia Group also reported continued growth: room nights booked rose 9% in Q4, while total gross bookings and revenue increased 8% for the full year 2025.
Taken together, the major online platforms process hundreds of millions to over one billion room nights per year.
Travellers aged 30–44 accounted for the largest share of OTA revenue in 2025, at 42.53%. Mobile apps represented 52.36% of OTA revenue.
For independent hotels, OTAs accounted for 63.4% of all bookings in 2025, with direct bookings making up the remaining 36.6% (Cloudbeds). In other words, roughly two thirds of bookings at independent hotels now come via online travel agencies.
Booking.com listed approximately 3.9 million alternative accommodation properties, representing over 31 million listings.
The global hotel bookings market was valued at $564.2 billion in 2024 and was expected to reach $612.8 billion in 2025. It is projected to grow to around $1.027 trillion by 2032, at a compound annual growth rate of 7.5%.
Measured more broadly, the entire global hotel market was estimated at $2.08 trillion in 2025 and is forecast to reach $2.20 trillion in 2026 – a figure that captures the full economic value of the hotel sector, not merely bookings revenue.
Travel Apps for Booking
The total booking and transaction value generated through travel apps reached approximately $1.1 trillion in 2025, up roughly 10% on the previous year.
In 2025, 2.9 billion travel apps were downloaded globally via the App Store and Google Play – representing 2.6% of all app downloads, and 7% more than the year before.
The uninstall rate for travel apps on Android stood at 29.2% within 30 days (AppsFlyer 2025) – notably lower than the overall app uninstall rate of 46.1% across all categories.
The features travellers value most relate to speed, convenience, real-time information and consolidated digital travel tools. The smartphone is now central throughout the entire flight journey – from booking and payment to check-in, boarding and baggage handling (IATA 2025).
78% of air passengers want a smartphone solution that combines a digital wallet, digital passport and loyalty card for booking, paying and navigating airport processes.
88% of passengers say they would feel more at ease if they could track their luggage in real time (IATA).
Push notifications, real-time updates, price alerts and personalised offers have become essential features of modern travel apps, with AI-driven personalisation increasingly at the centre of the experience.
Offline features – including digital ID, digital wallets, baggage tracking, mobile check-in, boarding passes and loyalty cards – remain valuable, particularly for international travel and in areas with unreliable connectivity.
The use of digital wallets grew from 20% in 2024 to 28% in 2025, whilst credit and debit card payments fell from 79% to 72% over the same period (IATA).
Travel apps using AI-driven personalisation and automated campaigns saw day-one retention rise from 17% to 18%, and purchases per paying user increase from 1.89 to 2.13 (AppsFlyer).
78% of travellers want to consolidate their digital wallet, digital passport and loyalty card into a single mobile app – making loyalty programmes a natural part of the wider digital travel experience.
A current benchmark for travel apps puts install-to-purchase conversion at 2.41% – apps tend to convert well once a user has them installed.
Market Leading Online Travel Companies and Brands
Booking.com (United States)
Airbnb (United States)
Trip.com (China)
Expedia (United States)
MakeMyTrip (India)
Webjet (Australia)
eDreams Odigeo (Spain)
Trivago (Germany)
Despegar.com (Argentina)
Hotels.com (United States)
On the Beach (United Kingdom)
Mobile Usage
The smartphone has moved from being a supplementary tool to the primary device across the entire travel journey – from initial inspiration and planning through to booking, payment and check-in.
Online booking dominates, particularly among younger travellers. Millennials are the most likely to book a trip entirely online (86%), compared with 66% of Baby Boomers.
Mobile apps accounted for 52.36% of global OTA revenue in 2025.
In the UK, travellers use multiple booking channels: 51% book directly with airlines or hotels, 48% use online travel agencies, 28% use mobile apps such as Airbnb or Hopper, and 24% still use traditional travel agents.
71% of British and 70% of American holiday-makers find some part of the booking process stressful (YouGov 2025).
Average online basket abandonment sits at around 70.22% – a more reliable benchmark than older figures specific to the travel sector (Baymard, based on 50 studies).
78% of passengers want a single smartphone solution combining a digital wallet, digital passport and loyalty card (IATA 2025).
Credit and debit cards remain the dominant payment method at 72%, though this has fallen from 79% in 2024. Digital wallets grew from 20% to 28% over the same period.
88% of passengers say they would feel more reassured if they could track their luggage in real time (IATA).
AI-powered voice booking is an emerging channel. In 2026, Uber began rolling out voice-activated AI booking as part of its hotel booking feature through Expedia – a clear signal that major platforms are beginning to weave voice-driven booking into their services.
Consumers are most receptive to AI during the inspiration and planning stages of a trip, but remain more cautious when AI is involved in the actual purchase decision (Cognizant).
Consumer Behaviour When Booking Online
Online travel bookings are most commonly made on Mondays, though weekends are also among the busiest booking periods of the week.
6am is the quietest time of day for online travel bookings overall, whilst 10am sees the highest volume of traffic.
Over 90% of travellers expect a personalised online experience when booking a trip.
Travellers who book experiences before departure spend on average 47% more on accommodation and 81% more on travel than those who book on arrival.
Further Facts About Travel Behaviour
Half of all Americans spend at least a week researching options before booking their holiday.
Men are less likely to book a holiday than women: 49% compared with 58%.
Beach holidays are the most popular choice (34%), closely followed by city breaks (32%).
On average, travellers spend 5 days searching for their holiday – almost as long as it takes to research a new car (6 days).
Before booking a trip online, travellers visit an average of 38 websites, including OTAs and travel blogs.
Half of British adults feel more confident booking travel via smartphone.
76% of global travellers say they want to make more sustainable travel choices.
78% of global travellers plan to stay at least once in an eco-friendly or green property.
70% of travellers can be influenced to book accommodation if they know it has strong environmental credentials.
References
https://phocuswire.com/
https://pre-webunwto.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/
https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/
