Google Maps is the top mobile travel app for perhaps obvious reasons. Not surprisingly it also tops the travel category and accounts for a remarkable 78 percent of time spent in the mobile travel usage, according to Nielsen. The firm also reports that the overwhelming majority of mobile travel users’ time is spent with apps (vs. the mobile web):

Findings showed that U.S. Android and iOS users spent 95 percent of their time accessing travel information from travel apps, versus only 5 percent from the mobile Web. This discrepancy was largely driven by Google Maps—the top Travel category app and mobile website during June—which accounted for 78 percent of all mobile time spent on Travel.

Looking a bit closer, mobile app vs. mobile web usage varies somewhat by travel sub-category. Here’s Nielsen’s graphic breaking down mobile web vs. app usage among travelers:

The following are lists of the top travel apps and top mobile travel websites for June, according to Nielsen.

The long standing debate about whether apps will eventually give way to the mobile web appears to be settled (for the time being). Apps are dominant in terms of time spent. However marketers must have mobile sites as a fundamental matter as well.

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Google: Android | Google: Maps | Google: Mobile | Mobile Marketing | Top News

About The Author: Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes a personal blog Screenwerk, about SoLoMo issues and connecting the dots between online and offline. He also posts at Internet2Go, which is focused on the mobile Internet. Follow him @gsterling. See more articles by Greg Sterling

Connect with the author via: Email | Twitter | Google+ | LinkedIn