How to Develop a Travel App: Features & Costs

Do you want to develop a travel app for your travel agency, but don’t know much about the features that should be included? Do you want to know the cost of developing a travel app? No need to worry. Here’s the detailed blog you want. It has answers to all of your questions. Many travel agencies around the world prefer to outsource their app development needs to companies with expertise and experience in app development, as it reduces their cost of building an infrastructure for the in-house team and the quality is maintained. 

What is a Travel App?

A travel app is a mobile or web application that can handle various aspects of travelling from travel and hotel booking to a guide that users need. It also provides itineraries and manages the entire trip. Some travel apps also provide currency converter, weather updates and multi-language accessibility. There are many types of travel apps including itinerary planning apps, hotel booking apps, ticket booking apps, travel guide apps, transportation apps and all-in-one travel apps. 

How to Develop a Travel App

Developing a travel app is a detailed process that requires thorough research and testing to ensure its proper functionality. Everyday there’s some new trend in the travelling industry that you must be aware of, to include it when developing a traveling app of your own. Here are the top trends that you must follow to develop your travel app. 

Market Research

Market research is a crucial part of developing a travel app, because you need to keep yourself with the trendy features and what your competitors are doing. With market search you will also be able to determine needs, demands and requirements of users. It also helps you find the USPs and drawbacks of your competitors. 

App Features

Next comes determining the app features. You decide what you need and want to include in your travel app apart from basic features. In this stage you decide whether you want to add advanced features or keep your app basic. In this era where almost everything is available online then a payment gateway is a must to provide personalized experience to your customers. The app features you include decide what impression your app makes on customers. 

Tech Partner

Once you are done choosing the features you need in your travel app, then comes the part where you choose a suitable and affordable tech partner. You must ensure that the tech partner you choose aligns with your idea of the app and follows a systematic development approach to develop your travel app. A right tech partner can change the entire game for you and keep you ahead of the curve. 

MVP Development 

Finally the part of development, where you can see your imagination, your idea taking shape and turning into a reality. MVP development is really important for developing an effective travel app. An MVP helps you find the drawbacks of your app and also gets you crucial user reviews. With MVP you refine the actual app before launching. 

Test and Lauch

The last part of the travel app development is testing and launching. Here in this step you test the actual app for scaling to ensure the app doesn’t crash when the users grow. Apart from scaling, the app is also tested on various other parameters to ensure proper functionality. Always follow a systematic test and launch approach. 

Features of a Travel App

The features you include in your travel app plays a crucial role in determining where your app will stand in this competitive market. Including basic features that are a must for travel is really necessary. Here’s a list of top features that you should include in your travel app to keep it ahead of the curve. 

Search Feature

The search feature is really crucial for every app including a travel app too. It significantly contributes in simplifying app journeys and offers intuitive user experience. The search feature enables users to find whatever they need in seconds. 

Alerts and Notifications

Another essential feature that must be included in your travel app is push notifications and alerts. This feature ensures your users remain up-to-date with necessary information related to their trip and your app features. 

Reviews and Ratings

Next comes reviews and ratings, which can be a game changer when implemented correctly. The reason this feature is important is because it will help you provide your users with detailed information about the destination they are planning a trip for. 

Safe Payments

In this era, where everything is done online, it is necessary that you include online payments features. But what’s more important is that you must ensure the payment gateway is safe. You can partner with reliable gateways to protect user data during transactions. 

 Cost of Developing a Travel App

The cost of developing a travel app is quite difficult to determine as it depends on various factors including complexity of the app such as developing a basic app costs less than the mid-complex app, whereas developing an advanced app costs around $80,000 to $200,000+ and more. 

Apart from that, the other factor that decides the cost of development is the platform you are developing for. For example developing the app for a single platform will cost less, whereas developing a cross-platform that is efficient for both iOS and android will cost more but is effective in the long run, 

Another factor that affects the cost of development is location and expertise of the development team. For example hiring freelancers for the development will cost less but the quality of the app will be compromised. You can also assemble an in-house team which will ensure quality of the product but will cost a lot. Another option is outsourcing your app development needs. In different regions outsourcing costs are different. 

Conclusion

In the end, we can say that developing a travel app that is comprehensive and provides unparalleled user experience to your users while planning and when they are on their trip. Ensure the app is developed keeping trends in mind and the features added are working just the way you and users want it to work.