New Delhi, Oct 10 (IANS): Increasing vaccination and decreasing infection rates across several European countries have helped the Travel app category hit strong year-over-year growth rates in Q2 2021, with downloads up 104 per cent.

Downloads reached 143 million installs, up 14 per cent versus H1 2020 on Google Play and Apple's App Store respectively, reports Sensor Tower.

Travel aggregator apps were significantly impacted by the emergence of Covid-19. However, by the summer of 2021, downloads of hotel booking apps and full-service travel aggregators were approaching pre-pandemic levels.

Booking.com reached nearly 3 million downloads in Europe in July 2021, a new all-time high exceeding its peaks during the summer months before the pandemic.

From January to August 2021, Booking.com saw an average of 1.7 million downloads per month compared to competitors Tripadvisor, Trivago, Skyscanner, Tutu.ru, and Aviasales, which collectively saw 267,000 average installs per month.

With the UK and the US expected to relax foreign travel restrictions in the coming months, travel aggregator apps have an opportunity to continue boosting user adoption rates.

Vacation rental apps led the accommodation category recovery in the summer of 2021.

Airbnb was the top accommodation app, surpassing 6 million installs between January to August 2021, with user adoption reaching its highest point during the year in July at 1.2 million downloads.