Digital Ticketing Sales Will Grow 150 Percent by 2022

Digital ticket transaction volumes will exceed pre-COVID levels by 2022; rising from 12.7 billion in 2020 to 32 billion in 2022, according to Juniper Research. It anticipates that continued easing of global travel restrictions will drive increased demand for mobile ticketing in the rail, metro and bus sectors, as commuters return to work.

The research urges transport authorities to execute swift transformation strategies to satisfy changing customer preferences or risk missing opportunities to reduce cash use and drive mobile ticketing adoption post pandemic. The only sector to buck this trend is the airline industry which was severely hit by the pandemic, with digital ticket transaction values anticipated to decline by almost $400 billion in 2020.

Several airlines have filed for insolvency, with more predicted to follow, and ticketing revenue will struggle to match previous levels. Air ticketing is already highly digital, with features such as online check-in well-established. Therefore, digital transformation cannot offer the same benefits here as in other segments. Consequently, the research predicts that digital air ticketing transaction values will not reach pre-COVID levels before 2024.

The research also expects the ongoing pandemic to cause a permanent shift in consumer behaviour, resulting in significant increases in contactless payment adoption. Total contactless ticketing transaction volumes will grow from 1.7 billion in 2020 to $5.25 billion by 2022; representing a 200% growth. To exploit this growth, the research urges transit operators and authorities to focus on contactless deployments to meet consumer expectations, as transport usage returns to pre-pandemic norms.

"Consumer perception of contactless payments has shifted from one of convenience to being essential. With increased post-pandemic demand for contactless ticketing, stakeholders must collaborate to rapidly overcome the barriers to contactless payments posed by a lack of standardised infrastructure," said research author Susannah Hampton.