WhatsApp Helps Brands Personalize Travel in India and Middle East
Skift Take
From being a quicker alternative to the short message service (SMS), the humble WhatsApp has now metamorphosed into what may be touted as a smart marketing service, even as privacy concerns continue to plague the Meta-owned app.
A Skift Megatrend for 2016 had noted that messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and WeChat dominate much of how the modern world communicates and travel brands that continue to ignore this are missing out on the future of how people prefer to communicate.
For travel companies in India and the Middle East, WhatsApp continues to remain the most preferred messaging platform.
Today, six years later, WhatApp is distinguishing itself from the others by being able to cater to different markets having different histories of online engagement.
So, while it caters to those plagued by economic constraints and poor broadband infrastructure, offering a cheaper alternative to SMS and conventional voice calls, it is equally relevant for the urban middle class individuals with disposable income and fast internet connections.
Almost a third of the world’s population uses WhatsApp to send messages, images, video and make phone and video calls. Since February 2016, WhatsApp has actively increased its monthly active users from 1 billion to 2 billion.
In April, the messaging platform had approximately 2.44 billi
