Nearly 2 in 5 Smartphone Users Accessed Travel Content from their Device in July

comScore, Inc. released a study of U.S. smartphone travel behaviors based on data from its comScore Mobile Metrix 2.0 service. The study found that nearly 40 million consumers accessed travel sites or apps from their smartphone in July 2012, reaching 37 percent of the smartphone population.

TripAdvisor Media Group led as the largest travel property with a smartphone audience of 6.7 million visitors, followed by Expedia Inc. with 6 million visitors and Southwest Airlines with 4.1 million visitors.

A demographic analysis revealed that women had a higher tendency than men to access OTA (Online Travel Agent) destinations on their smartphones, with Travelocity and Orbitz displaying the strongest gender skews among OTAs.

TripAdvisor Media Group Leads as Top Travel Destination for Smartphone Users
In July 2012, nearly 40 million people age 18 and older visited a travel destination via mobile browser or app on their smartphone, representing 2 in every 5 smartphone owners accessing from a device running the iOS, Android or RIM operating systems.

TripAdvisor Media Group led as the top travel destination for smartphone owners with an audience of 6.7 million visitors, while Expedia Inc. secured the #2 spot with nearly 6 million visitors.

Southwest Airlines led as the top airline in the ranking reaching an audience of 4.1 million visitors, while Delta Airlines also ranked among the top 10 destinations with an audience of 2.1 million visitors. Priceline.com secured the #4 spot with 3.5 million visitors while Travora Media, which includes Flightaware and Hotelplanner among other entities, ranked fifth with 2.5 million visitors.

Analysis of the share of time spent across apps and browsers revealed that travel category engagement was more evenly distributed among browser and app access when compared to the total Internet distribution.

In July, 53 percent of minutes spent on Travel category content originated from apps, with browsers accounting for 47 percent of minutes. In contrast, 83 percent of all mobile content was consumed via apps with only 17 percent being accounted for by browser usage.

Among the top properties, several destinations revealed strong skews toward app engagement. Kayak.com saw apps drive 94 percent of total minutes, while Delta Airlines saw 87 percent of total minutes from its app. Travel planning startup Hipmunk witnessed the strongest skew toward app engagement with 100 percent of usage occurring via app.