Mobile travel planning is one of the fastest growing sectors in e-commerce. Travel search engine KAYAK.sg has analysed its data to compare how Singaporean travellers behave when searching on
KAYAK’s iPhone and Android apps, versus desktop users on KAYAK.sg. Through this analysis, KAYAK’s data experts reveal the
latest travel search trends for Singaporean mobile users.
Table of contents
Travel Trends: what Singaporeans are searching for online• Favourite destinations are consistently within Asia • Most popular mobile platforms: Singaporeans prefer searching for travel via the app• Cabin classes: Singaporean iPhone users are more likely to fly business class than
users on other platforms• Hotel star ratings: searching for mid-range to high-end hotels is the norm
Purchasing power: how much Singaporeans are willing to spend on travel• Spending on popular destinations: Singaporean desktop users are the least price sensitive • Spending on expensive destinations: Singaporeans prefer desktop to mobile when searching and
booking expensive flights• Spending on 4 and 5 star hotels: Singaporean iPhone users search for luxury hotels more than
users on other platforms
Time: how much time Singaporeans dedicate to searching and booking travel • Flights: Singaporean desktop users take the most time searching for flights• Hotels: Singaporeans spend the same amount of time searching for hotels on any device• Top weekdays to search: Singaporeans search for travel on their desktop at work, then switch to
mobile on Monday evenings and Sundays• Top time of the day to search: the busiest time for travel searches differs between mobile and desktop • When Singaporeans book: Singaporean desktop users book less in advance than mobile users• Average length of trip: Singaporeans prefer shorter trips, but when searching for long trips, tend to
use a desktop computer
Mobile Travel Personas• iPhone• Android• Desktop
Mobile Travel Facts & Hacks
Mobile Travel Report
What
SingaporeansTravel Trends
are searching for online
Mobile Travel Report
Favourite destinations are consistently within Asia
Research has shown that the favourite holiday
destinations searched for among Singaporeans
are similar across all platforms and that travellers’
top destinations are mostly within Asia. Bangkok is
the number one destination across all platforms, with
Hong Kong, Denpasar (Bali), and Tokyo all in the top
5. Destinations searched for further afield include
London (the fifth favourite destination for both iPhone
and Desktop users) and New York.
Similarities can be drawn with users in other regions.
Bangkok is also popular across all platforms for
Australian, Hong Kong and UK users, and while it sits
at number one for Singaporean travellers, it is number
8 for Australians and the second most popular for
Hong Kongers and Brits.
01020304050607080910
Android iPhone Desktop
BangkokTaipeiHong KongSeoulTokyoDenpasar (Bali)Kuala LumpurLondonManilaPhuket
BangkokHong KongTokyoDenpasar (Bali)LondonTaipeiSeoulManilaKuala LumpurPhuket
BangkokDenpasar (Bali)Hong KongTokyoLondonSeoulPhuketTaipeiManilaNew York
Mobile Travel Report
Most popular mobile platforms: Singaporeans prefer searching for travel via the app
KAYAK found that of all mobile travel searches, 74%
occurred in the app. This indicates that when on
a phone or tablet, Singaporeans prefer the usability of
the app over the mobile or tablet-optimised website.
The iPhone app is by far the most popular mobile
platform, accounting for almost half (44%) of all mobile
searches. The iPhone app is also the most frequently
used mobile platform in Australia, Hong Kong, and
most of Europe, with the exception of Poland and
Spain, where the majority of mobile travel searches
are conducted on the Android app.
44%
17% 18%Android
iPhone
Mobilebrowser
Tabletbrowser12%
iPad
9%
Mobile Travel Report
First Business Economy Premium Economy
Android iPhone Desktop Android iPhone Desktop Android iPhone Desktop Android iPhone Desktop
<1% <1% <1% 1% 1% 1%3% 5% 3%
96% 96%94%
Cabin classes: Singaporean iPhone users are more likely to fly business class than users on other platforms
Singaporean travellers overwhelmingly prioritise value over comfort, with more than 90% of users across all
platforms searching for economy flights. iPhone users are more likely to search for business class flights than
those using other platforms.
Mobile Travel Report
39%
24%
8%
28%
8%
Android iPhone Desktop
Stars:
1% 2%
9%
25%
23%
38%
24%
37%
Hotel star ratings: searching for mid-range to high-end hotels is the norm
The majority of Singaporeans prefer to search
for mid-range to high-end hotels, with less than
12% of all searches across Android, iPhone and
desktop being for hotels ranked 2 stars or below.
iPhone and desktop users both show a preference
for the finer things in life, with 28% of all searches for
accommodation being made for 5-star luxury hotels;
slightly more than Android users (24%).
How muchSingaporeans
Purchasing power
are willing to spendon travel
Mobile Travel Report
Spending on popular destinations: Singaporean desktop users are the least price sensitive
Singaporean desktop users are less price sensitive
than mobile users when searching and booking
travel online. This would indicate that despite the
growing trend in mobile travel planning, Singaporeans
are still more confident spending higher amounts on
their desktop than on mobile devices.
Singaporean travellers spend on average up to 12%
more on their preferred destinations on desktop
compared to mobile. Looking at the split on mobile,
Android and iPhone users show similar tendencies,
with average Android expenditure on popular
destinations just 3% higher than that on iPhone. These
findings are in contrast to Britain, Australia and Hong
Kong, whose iPhone users spend more on trips to
popular destinations than Android users.
When it comes to the ten most popular destinations,
KAYAK data experts note that on average, flights
booked by Singaporeans on their desktop are
more expensive than those booked on mobile. It
could indicate that Singaporean travellers using
desktop have a fixed idea of when they want to fly,
as opposed to mobile users who seem to be more
flexible on timing and may browse for better deals
while on the go.
01
525 511
Average spending - top 10 most popular destinations (SGD)
Popular Destinations Popular Destinations Popular Destinations
Android iPhone Desktop
020304050607080910
Android iPhone Desktop Mobile
588 518
Bangkok
Taipei
Hong Kong
Seoul
Tokyo
Denpasar (Bali)
Kuala Lumpur
London
Manila
Phuket
216
376
294
932
722
274
88
1856
291
198
237
317
764
283
1666
444
752
313
99
238
266
292
336
854
1725
805
254
437
322
2161
Bangkok
Hong Kong
Tokyo
Denpasar (Bali)
London
Taipei
Seoul
Manila
Kuala Lumpur
Phuket
Bangkok
Denpasar (Bali)
Hong Kong
Tokyo
London
Seoul
Phuket
Taipei
Manila
New York
SGDSGD SGD SGD
Mobile Travel Report
01
525 511
Average spending - top 10 most popular destinations (SGD)
Popular Destinations Popular Destinations Popular Destinations
Android iPhone Desktop
020304050607080910
Android iPhone Desktop Mobile
588 518
Bangkok
Taipei
Hong Kong
Seoul
Tokyo
Denpasar (Bali)
Kuala Lumpur
London
Manila
Phuket
216
376
294
932
722
274
88
1856
291
198
237
317
764
283
1666
444
752
313
99
238
266
292
336
854
1725
805
254
437
322
2161
Bangkok
Hong Kong
Tokyo
Denpasar (Bali)
London
Taipei
Seoul
Manila
Kuala Lumpur
Phuket
Bangkok
Denpasar (Bali)
Hong Kong
Tokyo
London
Seoul
Phuket
Taipei
Manila
New York
SGDSGD SGD SGD
Spending on popular destinations: Singaporean desktop users are the least price sensitive
Mobile Travel Report
Spending on expensive destinations: Singaporeans prefer desktop to mobile when searching and booking expensive flights
When searching for flights to the most expensive
destinations, Singaporean travellers still far
prefer to use their desktop computer, with a willingness
to spend up to 39% more on desktop than on mobile
devices. This could be explained by the series of filters
available on the KAYAK.sg desktop site, which allow
users to tailor their searches according to extensive
criteria. From a mobile perspective, Singaporeans spend
37% more on expensive destinations on iPhone than on
Android. This gap in spending between Singaporean
iPhone and Android users is significantly higher than that
for Australian and Hong Kong mobile users, who spend
2% and 16% more on iPhone respectively.
Many of the expensive flights Singaporean travellers
search for are for destinations outside the Asia Pacific
region and are quite different across devices. The three
top 10 lists contain 26 unique destinations, suggesting
that users of different platforms have very disparate
ideas when it comes to spending on expensive
destinations. No destination appears in all three lists,
however, Buenos Aires is in the top ten expensive
destinations for iPhone and desktop, while New York,
Frankfurt and Los Angeles are in the list for both
iPhone and Android users.
more spend on expensive destinations on desktop than on mobile
39%
37%more spend on expensive destinations on iPhone than on Android
Mobile Travel Report
01
1160 1831
Average spending - top 10 premium destinations (GBP)
Expensive Destinations Expensive Destinations Expensive Destinations
Android iPhone Desktop
020304050607080910
Android iPhone Desktop Mobile
2456 1495
New York
Los Angeles
London
Amsterdam
Frankfurt
Paris
Rome
Istanbul
Auckland
Osaka
1539
1402
1306
1213
1203
1167
1136
1014
874
741
3185
1989
1931
1787
1732
1650
1608
1524
1468
1437
3000
2997
2592
2470
2375
2336
2326
2205
2158
2103
Buenos Aires
Seattle
Chicago
San Francisco
Houston
New York
Washington
Vancouver
Los Angeles
Frankfurt
Lima
Buenos Aires
Rio De Janeiro
Sao Paulo
Denver
Miami
Montreal
Mexico City
New Orleans
Detroit
SGD SGD SGD
SGD
Mobile Travel Report
Spending on 4 and 5 star hotels: Singaporean iPhone users search for luxury hotels more than users on other platforms
When i t comes to search ing for hote ls,
Singaporeans using an iPhone are the most
likely to look for luxury hotels. 66% of hotel searches on
iPhone are for 4 and 5 star hotels, compared to 65% on
desktop and 63% on Android devices. This behaviour
matches that found among Australian and Hong Kong
travellers, with iPhone users in these countries also the
most likely to choose luxury accommodation.
Over in Europe, the top countries for luxury hotel
bookings across all platforms are the UK, Germany,
and Switzerland. Swiss iPhone users in particular are
keen on luxury hotels, with 72% of hotel bookings
being for 4 and 5 star hotels.
66%of iPhone hotel searches are for 4 and 5 star hotels
How much time Singaporeans
Time
dedicate to searchingand booking travel
Mobile Travel Report
Flights: Singaporean desktop users take the most time searching for flights
Singaporeans tend to spend more time and money
when searching and booking flights on desktop,
meaning they are more cautious in finding the best deal
than users on mobile devices. Amongst Singaporeans,
mobile users are the fastest flight bookers, with an
average of just 5 minutes spent searching before
entering the booking process on both Android and
iPhone. This makes mobile users 3 minutes faster in
finding a deal than desktop users, who take an average
of 8 minutes to make up their minds.
Average search timeAndroid
5min
Average search timeiPhone
5min
Average search timedifference
0min
Mobile Travel Report
Hotels: Singaporeans spend the same amount of time searching for hotels on any device
The average search behaviour of Singaporean mobile
and desktop users is identical when it comes to time
spent searching for hotels before entering the booking
process. At 7 minutes on any platform, Singaporean hotel
search habits are extremely consistent.
iPhone and Android users spend, on average, 2 minutes
longer when searching for hotels than for flights. Desktop
users, on the other hand, spend one minute less on hotel
searches (7 minutes) than flight searches (8 minutes).
7min 7min
Average search timeAndroid
Average search timeiPhone
Average search timedifference
0min
Mobile Travel Report
Top weekdays to search: Singaporeans search for travel on their desktop at work, then switch to mobile on Monday evenings and Sundays
Singaporeans like to settle back into the work
week by searching for t ravel on desktop,
with 34% of all desktop searches being made on
Mondays and Tuesdays. Searches for travel on
both iPhone and Android tend to happen on the
first and last day of the week; with 30% of travel
searches being made by iPhone and Android users
on Mondays or Sundays. This behaviour is similar
to Australian users, who show identical patterns
to Singaporean users when it comes to the top 3
search days on all platforms.
01020304050607
Android iPhone Desktop
Busiest days of the week
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Saturday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Monday
Sunday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Saturday
Thursday
Friday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Sunday
Friday
Saturday
Mobile Travel Report
Top time of the dayto search: the busiest time for travel searches differs between mobile and desktop
Searching for travel fal ls into general onl ine
activities, among news, emails and texts, but
for Singaporeans there are definite distinctions with
regards to when these searches occur on mobile
devices or desktop throughout the day. Travel
searches on desktop increase in the morning from
9am, picking up around lunch time and reaching
their peak at 2pm. This corresponds to the data for
Australian and Hong Kong users, which also shows
a peak in desktop searches at 2pm.
After work, Singaporeans get back on mobile while
commuting (by 7pm), and when they return home in
the evening, mobile searching again intensifies (from
8pm to 11pm), accounting for 24% of all searches
on mobile throughout the day. In comparison, the
busiest window of time for mobile searches is 7pm
to 9pm for Australian users and 8pm to 11pm for
Hong Kongers.
121
210
11
6
98
3
4
57
iPhone
121
21011
6
9
8
3
4
57
Android
121
210
11
6
9
8
3
4
57
Desktop
Mobile Travel Report
When Singaporeans book:Singaporean desktop users book less in advance than mobile users
Singaporean travellers on desktop prefer to leave
it closer to the time of travel to search. Mobile
users book on average 8 days sooner than desktop
users - this trend remains consistent for cars, flights
and hotel bookings. iPhone users are the most relaxed
bookers when it comes to hotels, booking an average
of 38 days in advance, the shortest time compared
to users on any other device and for any product. At
the opposite end of the spectrum, Android users book
flights an average of 67 days in advance. While Hong
Kong users also book less in advance on desktop,
Austral ian and Brit ish users show the opposite
behaviour, with a distinct tendency to book less in
advance on mobile.
59
67
51
59
Days in advance
Andr
oid
Days in advance
iPho
ne
45
56
38
47
Days in advance
Mob
ile a
vera
ge
Days in advance
Desk
top
52
62
4553
42
51
43
45
Mobile Travel Report
Average length of trip:Singaporeans prefer shorter trips, but when searching for long trips, tend to use a desktop computer
When Singaporeans book travel, they tend to
favour shorter trips. Trips of one week or less
make up more than 68% of all trips searched for by
Android and iPhone users and 62% of all trips searched
on desktop. Long trips of more than 2 weeks seem to
be less frequently searched for, particularly on Android
and iPhone, at only 3% and 7% of searches respectively.
In contrast, 15% of desktop searches are for longer trips
(more than 2 weeks), indicating Singaporeans prefer the
usability of their desktop computer over a mobile device,
as booking long vacations generally requires far more
planning than a short trip.
3 days
3 days
3 days
1 week
2 weeks
More than 2 weeks
More than 2 weeks
More than 2 weeks
2 weeks
2 weeks
1 week
1 week
Android
Desktop
38%
34%
30%32%23%15%
34%
25%
7%
39%
20%
3%
iPhone
Trip
dur
atio
n
Mobile Travel Report
Mobile
TravelPersonas
Mobile Travel Report
Singaporean iPhone Travel Persona
Favourite city is
Bangkok
Searches onMondays
Spends
5minutes searching
for a flight
Spends
7minutes searching
for a hotel
Books cars
45days in advance
Favourite expensive destination is Buenos Aires
Books flights
56days in advance
Books hotels
38days in advance
More likely to buy a business class ticketthan users of other devices
Spends an average of
$511on flights to
popular destinations
Prefers to bookgetaways lasting one week or less
Ideal time to search:9pm
Favourite KAYAK features are Tripsand Explore
Mobile Travel Report
Singaporean Android Travel Persona
Favourite city is
Bangkok
Favourite expensivedestination is Los Angeles
Prefers tofly economy
Searches onSundays
Prefers to bookgetaways lastingone week or less
Ideal time to search: 10pm
Favourite KAYAK features areTrips and Flight Tracker
Spends
5minutes searching
for a flight
Spends
7minutes searching
for a hotel
Books hotels
51days in advance
Spends an average of
$525on flights to
popular destinations
Books cars
59days in advance
Books flights
67days in advance
Mobile Travel Report
Singaporean Desktop Travel Persona
Favourite city is
Bangkok
Favourite expensivedestination is
Lima
Prefers to fly economy
Searches onMondays
Prefers to bookgetaways lasting one week or less
Ideal time to search:2pm
Favourite KAYAK features areTrips and Explore
Spends
8minutes searching
for a flight
Spends
7minutes searching
for a hotel
Books hotels
43days in advance
Spends an average of
$588on flights to
popular destinations
Books cars
42days in advance
Books flights
51days in advance
Mobile Travel Report
Mobile
TravelHacks and Facts
Mobile Travel Report
Facts
of usage of the KAYAK appis at the airport, or nearby.
33%
KAYAK app has been downloaded 40 million times and in 120 countries
The KAYAK app is alsoavailable on Kindle Fire
40,000,000
Mobile Travel Report
Hacks
Charge your phone onFlight Modeit will charge a lot quicker!
It’s no problem if your hotel room is lacking speakers, just grab a cup and put your mobile phone inside to instantly amplify the sound.
Before leaving for your trip, download an offline map on your smartphone so you can check your route without using your data.
Make your device charge last longer: be sure to have a fully-charged power bank with you when you travel, especially if you’re heading to a remote area with no electricity.
Want to watch movies hands free? Use your sunglasses as a mobile phone stand. On any flat surface, simply flip your sunglasses upside down and rest your phone against them.
If the back of your plane seat doesn’t have a TV, put your phone in a clear plastic bag and hook it to the back of the tray table.
If you don’t have a phone holder in your car, use a rubber band and wrap it around the blower fan.
Keep chargers and headphones in a glasses case to stop them getting tangled.
Include nearby airports when searching for flights on the KAYAK app to find cheaper fares: wondering if it’s cheaper to fly to Changi or Seletar? Your search will automatically include a search for airports near your destination to find the cheapest route.
Don’t have a charger or adaptor? Use a USB cable to charge your phone. Don’t have a laptop? Plug the USB cable into the TV in your hotel room.
Mobile Travel Report
www.kayak.sg
Analysis for the Mobile Travel Report is based on data from searches for hotels, flights and cars in 2014 and 2015 on the mobile apps, mobile websites and desktop websites of KAYAK. Hacks insights are provided by KAYAK experts.