Smartphones: Useful travel companions

Smartphones: Useful travel companions

Even travellers going solo do not need to feel lonely, out of touch, or misinformed thanks to mobile devices which are proving to be good travel companions.

A new survey shows that the ubiquitous devices have helped tourists make travel arrangements, book flights, find the best restaurants in foreign cities and the hottest attractions,

“Smartphone adoption around the world is skyrocketing, and is fundamentally changing the way people get travel advice," said Mike Putnam, of the travel website TripAdvisor, which surveyed travellers' use of mobile devices.

Sixty percent of the 1,000 US adults questioned in the poll said they had downloaded travel apps and a similar number had used mobile devices to research restaurants.

More than 40 per cent found or booked hotels with mobile devices and 28 per cent used them to check in to a hotel, restaurant or a local attraction.

As useful as smartphones are for planning a trip, the main reason travellers said they took along their devices was to call home and stay in touch via email and social networks.

Along with talking, texting and emailing, 65 per cent of travellers used the devices to share photos, 54 per cent surfed online, more than half found it useful for finding their way around and 48 per cent kept up with the news on mobile devices.

Sporadic connectivity in far-flung places and small screens were the biggest gripes about the mobile devices.