A new study from Juniper Research predicts that ticket purchases using mobile and desktop devices will almost double in the next four years.
The research also claimed that mobile handsets would account for more than half of these purchases in 2019.
Particular growth in the market was expected in travel, with the report claiming that 1 in 3 airline boarding passes would be issued via mobile devices by 2019. Around 745 million boarding passes are estimated to be delivered this way in 2015, a figure which is expected to reach 1.5 billion by 2019.
The research notes that particularly rapid adoption of mobile boarding passes is occurring in the US, Far East and Europe.
While the report expected that near-field communication (NFC) would eventually lead to the "extinction of the boarding pass", the current success of mobile barcodes has slowed adoption.
"Online ticketing, along with the increasing adoption of smartphones and tablets, has revolutionised the way consumers purchase tickets," the accompanying whitepaper reads. "For example, 10-15 years ago air travellers had to visit a travel agent to book an airline ticket or music fans had to queue up days ahead of a concert to purchase tickets.
"However an increasing proportion of users are purchasing tickets online, which includes a significant mobile user base previously cautious of transacting on the mobile."
