Travel apps reached billions of downloads and more than 15 billion hours of use in 2023, while booking and payment behavior continued moving toward mobile and digital channels. The latest figures also show a split between broad download scale and the commercial value of bookings, with regional differences in both.
Table of contents
- Global travel app downloads and revenue
- How travel app use varies by category
- Leading travel apps and markets
- Booking activity on major travel platforms
- Mobile bookings and app product changes
- What travelers want from digital booking
Global travel app downloads and revenue
Sensor Tower’s 2024 Travel Apps and Brands Market Insights Report recorded 2.15 billion global travel app downloads from January through September 2024. That was a 4.4% year-over-year increase. The same period produced $140 million in global travel app revenue, up 19.5% year over year. Revenue therefore grew faster than downloads during the period measured by Sensor Tower.
Sensor Tower projected that full-year 2024 travel app downloads would exceed 2.8 billion and that revenue would exceed $180 million. These are projections for 2024, not completed full-year totals. The report also identified a recurring seasonal pattern: downloads and revenue typically peak around July and reach their lowest point each February before recovering through July.
The broader 2023 mobile picture was larger on a download basis. According to data.ai’s State of Mobile 2024, as reported by PhocusWire, travel app downloads rose 13% in 2023 to just over 3 billion. Worldwide time spent in travel apps reached more than 15.7 billion hours in 2023, compared with 12.6 billion hours in 2022. That represents a reported increase of about 3.1 billion hours between the two years.
These figures use different periods and reporting frameworks. The Sensor Tower figures cover January to September 2024 and projected full-year 2024 results, while the data.ai figures describe calendar-year 2023. They should be read as complementary indicators of scale rather than as a single continuous series.
How travel app use varies by category
Data.ai and PhocusWire reported growth across several travel app categories in 2023. Integrated travel service app downloads rose 34%, the fastest increase among the category figures provided. Airline app downloads rose 23%, while hotel app downloads rose 16%.
| Travel app category | Download change | Measurement period |
|---|---|---|
| Integrated travel services | 34% increase | 2023 |
| Airline apps | 23% increase | 2023 |
| Hotel apps | 16% increase | 2023 |
The category pattern suggests that apps combining multiple travel needs had stronger download growth than standalone airline and hotel apps in 2023. It does not, by itself, measure bookings, revenue per user, or retention. Downloads indicate acquisition, while time spent and booking data describe later stages of use.
Sensor Tower’s seasonal findings add context to category growth. Travel app downloads and revenue generally rise toward July after reaching their lowest point in February. That pattern can affect comparisons between partial-year measurements and full calendar years, especially for travel businesses whose demand is concentrated around summer trips.
Leading travel apps and markets
The five most downloaded travel apps worldwide in 2023 were Uber, Where Is My Train, Booking.com, inDrive, and Airbnb, according to data.ai’s State of Mobile 2024 via PhocusWire. The list spans local transport, rail information, accommodation, and ride-hailing rather than one single travel use case.
The five fastest-growing travel apps worldwide by aggregate growth in 2023 were Railway 12306, Didi Chuxing, Qunar Travel, Ctrip, and Umetrip. This is a different ranking from the most-downloaded list: popularity by total downloads and growth by aggregate change identify different types of leaders.
Sensor Tower reported that India contributed 15% of global travel app downloads from January through September 2024. The United States contributed 14%, and China contributed 10%. Together, those three markets represented 39% of the global download share reported for that period.
Revenue was distributed differently. Europe accounted for 40% of global travel app revenue from January through September 2024, while the United States accounted for 38%, according to Sensor Tower. The download leaders and revenue leaders therefore were not identical in the report’s regional comparison.
China’s iOS market provides a more specific snapshot. Travel app downloads reached nearly 80 million in the third quarter of 2023. Tielu 12306 recorded a 260% month-over-month increase in Chinese iOS downloads in 2023 and reached nearly 43 million downloads in that market. Meituan had nearly 65 million monthly active users in the Chinese iOS travel app market and ranked third in downloads during the same period. These Chinese iOS figures are market-specific and should not be treated as totals for all devices or all travel apps in China.
Booking activity on major travel platforms
Booking Holdings’ 2024 Annual Report recorded 1.144 billion room nights booked in 2024, compared with 1.049 billion in 2023. It also recorded 83 million rental car days in 2024 versus 74 million in 2023, and 49 million airline tickets versus 36 million. The reported booking volumes covered several travel products and show growth across each of the three measures.
| Booking Holdings measure | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Room nights | 1.049 billion | 1.144 billion |
| Rental car days | 74 million | 83 million |
| Airline tickets | 36 million | 49 million |
Booking Holdings’ factsheet reported $166 billion in gross travel bookings in 2024 and 1.1 billion room nights across the company that year. The room-night figure is presented as a rounded factsheet figure, while the annual report gives a more precise 1.144 billion figure. Both are labeled as 2024 Booking Holdings figures, but their different precision should be retained.
The company’s mobile and commercial mix also changed. Room nights booked on Booking.com’s mobile app were in the low-fifties percentage in 2024, compared with the high-forties percentage in 2023. The majority of room nights booked on Booking.com mobile apps were direct in 2024. Booking Holdings said 63% of total gross bookings were generated on a merchant basis in 2024, compared with 54% in 2023.
Marketing remained a major part of the platform’s operating picture. Booking Holdings reported total marketing expenses of $7.3 billion in 2024, an increase of 7% versus 2023. The figure covers the company’s total marketing expenses rather than app-only advertising.
Mobile bookings and app product changes
Airbnb reported that app bookings accounted for 58% of total nights booked in the third quarter of 2024, up from 53% in the third quarter of 2023. Airbnb also reported that nights booked on the app increased 18% year over year in Q3 2024. These figures describe Airbnb’s app booking mix and growth for the stated quarter; they are not estimates for the entire travel-app market.
Airbnb’s product updates were extensive. Its Q3 2024 financial results said the company had launched more than 535 features and upgrades over the prior three years. Its 2024 Winter Release included more than 50 guest-facing app upgrades. Airbnb also said it had removed more than 300,000 listings since the prior year.
The company’s global scale was reported in Airbnb’s 2024 Project Lighthouse Update. Airbnb said it had more than 5 million hosts worldwide, had welcomed more than 2 billion guest arrivals globally, and operated in more than 220 countries and regions. One billion of those guest arrivals took place in the three years before the update, according to Airbnb.
Project Lighthouse also reported booking-success rates by guests’ perceived race for 2023. The booking-success rate for guests perceived to be Black was 94.8%, compared with 96.2% for guests perceived to be White. Airbnb said its largest booking-success gap narrowed from 2.7 percentage points in 2021 to 1.4 percentage points in 2023. These are the measures and labels used in Airbnb’s update and describe its reported analysis, not a general industry benchmark.
What travelers want from digital booking
IATA’s Global Passenger Survey 2024 found that 71% of passengers preferred online or app-based booking. The survey also found that 53% favored the airline’s digital platforms and 79% preferred paying by credit or debit card.
The IATA 2025 Global Passenger Survey measured several newer digital preferences. Seventy-eight percent of passengers wanted a smartphone that combined a digital wallet, digital passport, and loyalty cards. Fifty-four percent wanted to deal directly with airlines. Airline websites remained the top booking preference at 31%, while web apps were preferred by 19% of travelers in 2025, up from 16% in 2024.
Payment behavior also shifted in the IATA comparison. Digital wallet use rose from 20% in 2024 to 28% in 2025. Instant payments, including IATA Pay, rose from 6% to 8%. Electronic bag tag use rose from 28% to 35% over the same comparison.
Biometrics became more common in airport journeys. IATA found that 50% of passengers had used biometrics at some point in their airport journey in 2025, compared with 46% in 2024. Use was highest at security, at 44%, followed by exit immigration at 41% and entry immigration at 35%. Eighty-five percent of biometric users were happy with the experience.
Privacy remained part of the adoption decision. Seventy-four percent of travelers said they would share biometric information to skip showing a passport or boarding pass. Among travelers unwilling to share biometrics, 42% said they would reconsider if privacy were assured. The figures indicate that convenience and privacy assurances both matter as travel apps and connected airport systems become more integrated.