Remember the time when planning a trip on your own used to be a big challenge!? Plan schedules, call travel agents, visit their offices, keep waiting in long lines, Huf !! With technological advancements, the traveling journey itself is no longer a feat. Now there is a particular travel application for all your travel needs.

Travel apps serve millions of people who can book hotels, tours, and flights by tapping on their smartphones. In addition, the mobile app industry offers ample options to individuals to select places to visit, hotels to stay, or food to taste within a few taps on your smartphone.

The emerging trend of online travel booking apps has even forced hotels, car rental companies, and airlines to build their own applications. After all, you have to be where your users are. So if you are still carrying out your travel business operations the same old way, it is high time you switch to a future-ready travel application.

This post provides a comprehensive travel mobile app development guide that covers its cost, features, and benefits.

Types of Travel Mobile Applications

Travel apps have eliminated the time-consuming process of booking tickets, wasting time finding hotels, and unfamiliarity with the places to visit. As a result, you don’t have to think much before planning a trip.

You can choose the best hotel, book flight tickets, plan for delicious cuisine, visit various travel destinations, and more. Today, different types of apps make the traveling experience sleeker and affordable. Here are a few of them –

  • Travel Planning Apps

Travel planning applications can assist you in planning your journey in a single go. They allow you to search for budget-friendly tour packages, make timely reservations and ensure a safer journey. Some popular travel planning apps are Sygic, Tripadvisor, Rodatrippers, Kayak, Packing Pro, etc.

In addition to this, a tech-savvy travel app facilitates users to fill in relevant information like details about accommodation, restaurants, tickets, concerned persons, etc.

  • Ticket Booking Apps

Ticket booking apps facilitate travelers to book flights online, compare prices, offer real-time information, and make digital payments. Furthermore, these apps got you covered in booking tickets for a museum or an art gallery.

You can even download different apps for niche ticket booking areas. Expedia, Ixigo, Skyscanner, Agoda, Traveloka, etc., are some well-known apps used for ticket booking across the globe.

  • Accommodation Booking Apps

Booking a hotel or a proper place to stay is the inherent aspect of booking any trip. However, getting suitable accommodation at the best prices in an unknown location is a bit hard. And that’s where accommodation booking applications come into play.

Accommodation booking apps enable you to select from thousands of rooms across the city and let you choose one that fits the bill. The accommodation apps are a good choice because it allows customers to compare prices easily. Some popular accommodation apps are Expedia, Trivago, Travelocity, HotelTonight, Orbits, etc.

  • Currency Conversion Apps

Thrilled about visiting a foreign country but don’t have the local currency? Not to worry, currency conversion apps are at your rescue. Gone are those days when you stood in long lines at banks, filled out lengthy forms, or visited travel agents to get the local currency.

Thanks to currency convertor apps, you can now get these services right at your fingertips. Also, these apps provide regular updates on rates of exchange. As a result, you do not have to pay more in exchange for any currency. Some of the best currency conversion apps are: MyCurrency, Xe Currency Converter, Easy Currency Converter, TransferWise, etc.

  • Travel Guide Apps

Travel guide apps show travelers affordable hotels, restaurants, events, and places to visit in the city. In addition, they provide photos and tips about different locations in your own language. Furthermore, travel guide apps also contain real-time map integrations that assist you in navigating via car, bike, bus, or on foot.

Other than this, travel guide applications allow users to share their photos on social media and with fellow travelers. You can even give ratings to a particular place as well. Culture Trip, Google Travel, Tripwolf, GlobeTips, etc., are some widely used travel guide applications.

Remarkable Features of Travel Apps

The best way to stay ahead in the marketplace is to keep upgrading with the latest demands of the buyer and the market. Once you have your basic idea, the right color scheme, and a proper layout on hand, it’s time to think about what the customer actually wants. Because if you don’t meet their needs, someone else might, which means a loss of significant business.

Here are the must-have features that will make your travel app really stand out –

  • Backpacking

The backpacking feature enables travelers to access pocket-friendly travel options and reasonable accommodation and suggests affordable transport facilities. Also, the backpacking feature allows you to connect with fellow travelers to eliminate the fear of traveling alone.

What’s more, this feature can assist you with the smart search functionality that can help you search for local cuisines, events, and tourist attractions worth visiting. Moreover, this feature lets you explore exciting offers on pubs, hostels, and events.

  • Weather updates

Travel applications offer users climate updates so they can easily know what to expect at their targeted locations. By getting information on the weather beforehand, travelers can plan their journey better.  

  • Real-time tracking

Travel apps offer real-time tracking so that travelers can make better decisions. For instance, they let the traveler know their flight is delayed so the user can make arrangements to reach the airport in time. Overall, real-time tracking allows travelers to act quickly by providing accurate data.

  • In-built translation facility

Travel apps are helpful for travelers while visiting a location where the language is new or unknown. They let the users overcome the language barrier by automatically translating sentences or words. Also, some travel apps have built-in Google Translate that allows users to see the pronunciation or meaning of a particular word in their own language.

  • Minimal human involvement

Travel apps have less human intervention as transportation is a time-sensitive industry. You are far more likely to make a reservation or buy a flight ticket if you can complete the process quickly. Even airlines are willing to pay for tools that can automatically fill forms rather than force users to enter their data manually.

Big Benefits of Travel App

Travel apps have drastically transformed the tourism and hospitality landscape by making travel booking seamless for clients. Including this, these applications can let travelers plan everything in advance so they can enjoy their trip at its best.

Here are the top benefits that a travel app offers-

  •  Hassle-free access 

Travel mobile apps provide users with faster access to all the information like accommodations, trip timings, flight ticket fares, and several other details that one cannot obtain offline or by calling travel agents.

  •  Instant bookings

With the help of travel apps, you can book anything from the comfort of your couch. In addition, they can help you access prices, distance, information about location, and other valuable data. Besides that, you can get special discounts to book their flight, rail ticket, or hotel room at the cheapest rate.

  • Enhanced Safety

Safety becomes imperative when it comes to planning a tour. Travel applications offer the latest safety information like weather or medical conditions that may be an obstacle in your journey. Furthermore, they send real-time push notifications related to weather-related disturbances and emergency alerts to ensure a safer journey.

  • Customization

Travel apps offer advanced customization where the users can customize the features according to their needs. Also, the admins of these apps are adding timely updates to meet the diverse travel app requirements of the customer base.

  • Effective marketing

Travel application is an excellent way for location-based marketing, analyzing user behavior, getting real-time market insights, and collecting user feedback to improve services. Moreover, travel apps are a powerful tool for branding and promotion as well. Real-time notifications are the best example of this.

Cost of Developing a Successful Travel App

You might be wondering how much travel app development can cost you. To get an accurate cost estimation, you need to consider the number of features and the tech stack. Also, consider a few things in mind, like the app developer’s location, app type, backend architecture, and the app’s user interface design.

After considering the factors mentioned earlier, we can say that the cost of building a feature-rich travel app can be somewhere between $1,05,000 to $1,35,000. However, these costs can vary according to the app requirements and developers’ skill sets.

Wrapping Up

The secret recipe for a successful travel app is – a clear interface, better usability, navigation, transparency, and different payment methods. However, you should consider the rapid shift in trends. Mobile apps are getting better as the users are getting demanding. So keep analyzing your app and track its performance to add relevant features in the future.