If you find it hard to imagine booking local rides or cross-country flights without a smartphone, you’re not alone. In fact, more than 7 in 10 United States consumers prefer to purchase local travel using a mobile device, and nearly 6 in 10 say the same for long-distance travel and rental cars. The mobile-first trend is significantly stronger for travel compared to other purchase categories, including retail and groceries.
How consumers like to book depends heavily on their age and the type of travel, however. For example, mobile devices have the strongest lead in local travel purchases, such as taxi rides and mass transit fares. Baby boomers continue to prefer computers over mobile devices for all types of travel. Meanwhile, our latest research finds that over 7 in 10 shoppers who buy travel digitally conduct research as part of their purchase journey.
These are just some of the findings detailed in “Consumers Go Mobile-First on Travel Purchases,” a PYMNTS Intelligence special report. This edition examines travel purchases made by mobile phone and draws on insights from a survey of 2,290 U.S. consumers conducted from Feb. 5, 2025, to Feb. 13, 2025.
Mobile-First Travelers
Mobile phones are the go-to means for purchasing travel, but computers remain popular, especially for long-distance bookings.
Mobile devices (phones, mostly, but sometimes tablets) have overtaken computers as the most widely preferred tools for purchasing travel. This is most true for local transportation. Some 73% of shoppers who recently paid for taxis, mass transit or rideshares via apps say they prefer to book with a mobile device, versus 37% for computers.
At the same time, computers remain almost as popular as mobile devices for long-distance travel, at 54% and 59%, respectively. The same is true for car rentals, with computers at 50% and phones at 57%. We also note that around 1 in 10 shoppers who recently bought each type of travel prefer voice-activated devices for buying trips.
Zooming in on generational differences reveals additional insights. Most consumers are now mobile-first for booking travel, ranging from 64% for Generation Z to 53% for Generation X. Only baby boomers remain more likely to prefer computers than mobile devices, at 45% and 28%, respectively.1
Interestingly, an outsized 40% share of Gen Zers prefer booking travel on computers, putting them much closer to baby boomers than millennials. Gen Z’s affinity for computers seems to revolve around purchases made through browsers instead of via mobile apps. Shoppers in this age group are much less likely to prefer mobile browsers, at 26%, than zillennials or millennials, at 35% and 32%, respectively. One possible explanation for this behavior is that Gen Z consumers are more likely than their older peers to be in school and glued to a laptop for coursework, giving them ready access to both device types much of the time.
Travel Leads in Mobile-First Purchases
Consumers are more likely to prefer using mobile devices to book travel than retail and other common purchases.
Consumers of all ages have a particularly strong preference for buying travel using their mobile devices, at 51%. This compares to a lower 45% when purchasing something retail, 42% for restaurants and 26% for groceries. Even 28% of baby boomers favor buying travel by mobile device, the highest share seen across these four purchase categories.
In the last 12 months, 36% of consumers have bought some sort of local transportation, such as mass transit, taxis or ridesharing. An equal share purchased long-distance train or plane tickets, while 21% rented a car.
Across all three transit categories, baby boomers were the least likely to make purchases, followed by Gen Zers. This may point to stage-of-life differences for shoppers in these two age groups. Many baby boomers have retired, while Gen Z consumers are either still in school or early in their careers.
Doing Their Research
Seven in 10 consumers who prefer buying travel digitally usually conduct online research before purchasing, with little difference across generations.
When it comes to travel, digital-first consumers typically do their research before booking. Overall, 73% of shoppers who prefer to purchase travel digitally say they usually start by exploring and conducting research online. Gen Z leads, at 79%, but we find relatively little difference across age groups. Even 69% of baby boomers normally do online research before buying.
Meanwhile, only half of consumers who prefer to purchase travel digitally typically consider the perks offered by their credit cards or other payment plans when booking. This suggests that merchants and service providers could do more to entice travelers to use their rewards offerings. Bridge millennials lead in this area, at 56%, followed by Gen X (54%) and millennials (53%). Notably, Gen Z shoppers lag these groups, highlighting different preferences and usage habits than seen among their older counterparts. Baby boomers show the least interest in perks and rewards, at 43%.
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Methodology
“Consumers Go Mobile-First on Travel Purchases” is based on a survey of 2,290 U.S. consumers conducted from Feb. 5, 2025, to Feb. 13, 2025. The report examines consumer behavior and preferences related to digitally purchasing travel and transportation. Population weights are utilized to ensure the analysis is representative of the U.S. adult population.
1. PYMNTS Intelligence uses the following birth dates and approximate age ranges in 2025 for generational cohorts: baby boomers: born in 1964 or earlier and now aged 60 or older; Generation X: born between 1965 and 1980 and now aged 44–60; bridge millennials: born between 1978 and 1988 and now aged 36–47; millennials: born between 1981 and 1996 and now aged 28–44; Zillennials: born between 1991 and 1999 and now aged 25–34; and Generation Z: born in 1997 or later and now aged 28 or younger.↩
