Mobile app introduction and shareholder returns

Mobile travel sales for leisure and unmanaged business travel grew from $26.14 billion in 2014 to $52.08 billion in 2015. With this rapid growth, mobile distribution channels have become an important component of hospitality and tourism suppliers' strategy in moving sales to direct channels. But the impact to shareholders is still to be determined. The present study estimated that the introduction of mobile apps in lodging and airline companies can increase shareholder return by 1.32%. The present study complements the mobile technology literature in quantifying the value of mobile app by stock market returns instead of consumer market measures. It also shows that the speed of adopting mobile app does not affect its value.