More and more travellers are staying connected to the internet via their mobile phones, say Holiday Hypermarket [http://www.holidayhypermarket.co.uk ], which is part of the TUI travel group and a leading online travel retailer.

Revealing that more than 100,000 visitors accessed their site from mobile phones in the month of April, the travel retailer emphasised the power of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to influence people’s holidays. People want to search for holidays on their mobile phones in order to share them with friends online and to find out more about special travel deals on offer at the moment [http://www.holidayhypermarket.co.uk/package-holidays ].

This is in keeping with a recent TripAdvisor survey indicating that 38 per cent of travellers post status updates to social networking sites to keep their friends and families back home informed of their travels while they are away.

In addition, a large number of respondents said that they continued to use their phones to take and share photos, surf online and navigate while travelling. One of the most popular on-the-road activities is researching restaurants, many of which are listed and reviewed on social media.

Calum MacDonald, Marketing Manager at Holiday Hypermarket, comments: “Whether travellers are looking for local attractions, sharing advice or checking into flights, they rely on their mobile phones and on social media to plan and enjoy their holidays.

“Often, this process begins at home when you’re waiting for a friend or sitting on the bus and a great holiday deal catches your eye. For this reason, we try to keep in touch with travellers on Holiday Hypermarket Facebook [http://www.facebook.com/holidayhypermarket ], Holiday Hypermarket Twitter [http://twitter.com ] and Holiday Hypermarket Pinterest [http://pinterest.com/holidayhype ] to answer questions and share updates.”