Globally people spent 86% more time on travel apps; India’s railway booking app among top installs list

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Consumers worldwide spent 86% more time on travel and navigation apps like Uber, Google Maps, and travel agency website Booking.com in April, compared to the same period last year, a trend that shows people are looking forward to start travelling again.

The trend indicates the global travel market is witnessing a recovery, with an uptick in vaccinations and eased lockdown restrictions in several parts of the world.

Google Maps topped the list of most downloaded apps in the March-ended quarter of 2021, and Android users spent the most time on the app, according to estimates by app analytics firm App Annie. Uber made it to the second spot in terms of downloads.

Indian Railway booking apps including ‘Where is my Train: Indian Railway & PNR Status’ and ‘IRCTC Train Bookings ixigo’ also made it to the top 10 most downloaded apps list. Ride-hailing app Ola Cabs and holiday rentals booking app Airbnb were also highly downloaded apps in the first three months of the year.

Also Read | Consumers spent $32 billion on apps in first three months of 2021: report

U.S.-based users of popular vaccine scheduling apps and mobile websites like VaccineFinder and ZocDoc were more likely than the average user to use popular travel and booking sites, App Annie noted. Perks offered by some companies including Uber’s free rides to vaccination sites and the U.K. government’s partnership with dating apps to offer benefits to users who get vaccinated, showed positive effect on app usage.

However, the surge in travel app usage is still lower than it was in April 2019, indicating room for growth, App Annie estimated.