Now that the world is open following the pandemic, the world is making up for the lost time. The travel industry, in particular, has been reaping the benefits of the post-pandemic. According to the numbers presented by AugustaFreePress.com, downloads of travel/navigation apps increased by an impressive 18% y-o-y growth during the second quarter of 2022. Overall, the downloads of top travel/navigation apps reached 137 million during this period.
137 million downloads on both app stores in Q2
According to numbers provided by SensorTower, a total of 137 million downloads of top travel apps on the App Store and Play Store combined took place in the last quarter. This was the third consecutive quarter to see improvement in number of downloads.
The graph shows that downloads hit an all-time low during 2020 as COVID-19 rampaged the world. However, the US travel industry started to recover in 2021. The total number of app downloads progressively increased during the year’s first three quarters. From Q4 2020 to Q3 2021, the number of downloads consistently grew from 70 million to 123 million – a growth of 76%. However, the escalating curve changed its direction in Q4 as downloads dropped to 106m. This drop was not surprising as numbers in Q4 generally drop.
The downloads picked up during the first quarter of 2022 and reached 115 million. Year-on-year, this figure represents a 33.7% growth from 2021. Around the same time, the Omicron variant became a cause for concern, but it appears that it didn’t have much impact on numbers.
The growth in downloads has continued into the second quarter of 2022. The number of downloads increased to 137 million in Q2. Historically, this was the best quarter for travel/navigation apps as the number even eclipsed Pre-covid downloads. As compared to Q1, downloads increased by 19%. In terms of Y-O-Y growth, the rate dropped from 33.7% in Q1 to 18% in Q2.
The US tourism industry is at its peak during Q3, which is also reflected in travel app downloads. Historically, travel app downloads hit their peak during the third quarter of a year. Hence, one can expect the upward trend in download numbers to continue in the third quarter.
