More travellers from China and Brazil than UK and US own tablet devices, according to stats shared by Henry Harteveldt of Atmosphere Research Group at an OpenJaw customer conference in Dublin in May 2012.

Air passengers from the UK, US, Brazil and China were surveyed in the second quarter of 2012 to reveal that while in the US 35% own a tablet, it's 50% of travellers in Brazil and 53% in China.

Stats for mobile ownership among travellers show 78% of travellers in Brazil and 89% in China have a smartphone compared with around 66% for UK and US travellers.

Across all four countries travellers are now spending more time browsing for personal use than watching the television and are interested in carrying out/buying a range of ‘low risk' items including restaurant reservations and booking sightseeing tours via mobile.

Harteveldt used the stats to emphasis the big three travel tech trends that online retailers need to take notice of - mobile, consumer control and big data. The research shows travellers don't think retailers are making the best use of technology to personalise offers to them or improve the overall experience.