What does traveler data consumption reveal?

The habits of users of Ubigi eSIM (a virtual SIM card that allows instant activation of a mobile data plan when traveling abroad) provide valuable information on the state of world tourism after two and a half years of health restrictions and in a constrained economic environment. The figures collected in the spring show a fairly clear recovery in international travel coinciding with a relaxation of international health regulations. A few days before the summer holidays, certain trends are emerging and need to be confirmed:

A strong momentum in the resumption of travel…

Overall, the tripling of sales of Ubigi eSIM data plans in March, April and May 2022 attests to a strong increase in international travel compared to the same period in 2021 (+247%).

…particularly visible in Europe

While European destinations are still popular, especially France, which represents 25% of the mobile data consumption by European, Swiss and British travelers. International travelers seem to favor Italy (+1263% compared to 2021) and Portugal ( +1721% compared to 2021), as well as Switzerland, Greece and Spain.

The USA remains a very attractive destination…

Outside the European continent, international travelers mainly choose the United States this spring. This is particularly the case for French travelers, who used 18% of their mobile data in the United States.

…and American tourists are back

While Americans travel mainly to Europe and particularly to France (which represents 19% of their mobile data consumption), they remain the largest foreign consumers of mobile data in most destinations.

Asia still lagging behind

With the exception of Japan and a timid recovery in Indonesia and Thailand, mobile data consumption by travelers shows that Asian destinations do not seem to be experiencing any dynamism as summer approaches and that travelers from Asian countries are still few in number.

Most popular destinations for travelers according to their mobile data consumption via Ubigi eSIM between March and May 2022

For Jacques Bonifay, CEO of Transatel, “this dynamic is good news for the tourism and mobile sector. The end of the Covid restrictions opens a new era for the eSIM which remains the cheapest and most secure way to benefit from mobile internet abroad.

Like last year, Ubigi will publish a complete barometer at the end of the summer with the consumption statistics observed by users of its service in order to deduce the main tourist flows for this first post-COVID summer.

To test Ubigi eSIM services: https://cellulardata.ubigi.com/en/mobile-devices/obtain-esim/