BELLEVUE, Wash.—A new study by travel website Expedia has found that travelers now consider their mobile device to be the "single most indispensable" item that they take with them when traveling—rating it higher than their toothbrush, deodorant or driver’s license.
The study, which was conducted by Northstar, analyzed data from 9,642 travelers across 19 countries to examine how mobile devices impact travel and work-life balance.
“Not only did the study find that 60% of travelers say they never truly ‘unplug’ on vacations, but it also found that they would be unwilling to take a vacation without their cellphone—as more than half of all respondents said they would be ‘lost’ on a trip without their mobile device,” explained John Oldshue, founder of SaveOnPhone.com, Birmingham, Ala.
Thirty-five percent of travelers claim to use their cellphones more on vacation than they do when they are at home. More than one half of travelers who are employed said they check on work at least once a day while on vacation. One-quarter of all respondents said they have even paid for in-flight Wi-Fi during a leisure trip to check on work-related items.