WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--StudentUniverse, the world’s leading travel booking service for students and youth, today announced that in-app and mobile web bookings have grown 126% year-over-year over triple digit growth the year prior. This growth comes just months after hotel content was introduced into the Flights by StudentUniverse app—the first mobile application with student airfares.
In December alone, 27% of StudentUniverse’s hotel sales were made in the app. Top destinations booked included New York, Las Vegas, Chicago, Orlando, Los Angeles, London, Washington, Paris, Boston and San Francisco. In addition to the growth in bookings, app installs are up 123% YoY, app sessions are up 213% YoY and growth in unique active users is up 1,273%.
In addition to app growth, StudentUniverse saw its fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit sales growth, ending the year up 25% over 2015’s record-breaking year. Breaking down the growth in a few specific markets, flights from Europe to the U.S. were up 57%, flights from the U.S. to Asia were up 30% and the growth in domestic bookings (US origin and departure) were up 36%.
“2016 was without question one of the most exciting years in StudentUniverse’s 16 year history, not only did 18 of the top 20 sales days occur in 2016, but Cyber Monday was the single best booking day in company history,” said Mike Cleary, StudentUniverse Executive Vice President. “The appetite for youth travel is growing across the globe as more students realize the value it adds to their education. We sent a student around the globe for 90 days in a new program in 2016 to support this concept. We’re proud of the value we can bring to the market and our suppliers, who are being exposed to incremental valuable young travelers.”
In 2016, StudentUniverse expanded partnerships with WestJet, Turkish Airlines, TAP Portugal and Finnair and added new partners, including Air Serbia and Azul Airlines. 81 airlines now provide student fares through the StudentUniverse service. For the second year in a row, The World Youth Student and Educational (WYSE) Travel Confederation recognized the work StudentUniverse does in the student travel space and named StudentUniverse “Best Youth Travel Agent.”
2017 is off to a strong start with some exciting updates, including new fare offerings and a new tours portal, on the horizon.
About StudentUniverse
StudentUniverse
is world’s leading travel booking service for students and youth. It
offers exclusive pricing and terms on flights, hotels and tours through
contracts with dozens of world-class partners and more than 80 airlines.
Its Travel Services division handles client requests for groups and
custom itineraries.
StudentUniverse launched in 2000 and was acquired by Flight Centre Travel Group in 2015. StudentUniverse is headquartered in Boston with offices in London, Toronto, New York and the Philippines. StudentUniverse believes that travel is essential to a modern education. Millions of students use the service every year. For updates on StudentUniverse follow our corporate Twitter profile and blog.
