Accelerating Revenue for the Travel Industry: 4 Proven Strategies

Accelerating revenue for the travel industry:

4 proven strategies to streamline payments & boost conversions

Introduction

As the global COVID-19 restrictions have eased and people have started to travel again, the industry is on the fast track to recovery. But things are not quite the same as they used to be - the pandemic has sparked new trends, like a growing interest in staycations, increased flexibility to work and travel, extra health and safety measures, and an accelerated shift towards digital payments for travel bookings.

With the industry regaining traction, the UNWTO predicts that some parts of the travel and tourism industry will bounce back to pre-pandemic levels by 2023. Although, the recovery may vary by region and sector. Asia-Pacific is expected to be the first to fully recover, followed by Europe, the Americas, and Africa 1 , and the total travel market is projected to reach $854B+ in 2023 2 .

Key trend in the post-pandemic era –increased adoption of flexible payments online

Digital transformation in payments has been one of the main revenue drivers for travel, and it will continue to shape the future of the industry. From flights and hotels to tours and activities, travelers expect a quick and hassle-free payment experience. A well-designed approach to payments improves customer satisfaction, increases sales, expands market reach, mitigates fraud, and, ultimately, streamlines providers’ operations.

Airlines and travel agencies that want to stay ahead of the curve need to have seamless and secure payment systems in place to meet the evolving needs of travelers, to build long-lasting relationships with them and to remain competitive in a post-pandemic world.

How? Keep reading to find out the top payment strategies to expand your reach and boost customer conversion.

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1. Eliminate friction and complexity from your payments

The average cart abandonment rate in travel is as high as 82% 3 , and while there are many factors involved in customer choosing to drop-off, payment complexity and declined transactions are common reasons.

Consider implementing Payment Orchestration

When your potential customers are ready to book their travel online, they want to complete the transaction quickly and easily. You can take full control of the payment cycle, lower the cost of acceptance and even generate incremental sales

by integrating a single-API payment orchestration layer into your payment flow. This way, you can prevent softdeclines, better manage

offering multiple alternative forms of payment and centralize reconciliation and reporting – all using one platform.

Enable a single-page payment experience

Customers tend to become uncertain about their purchase decision when they are required to go through several steps and pages to complete a transaction. The best way to address this issue is by providing a simple and localized single-page checkout process. You can achieve this by working with

a payment partner that can provide you with a direct, customized web cashier that is optimized for conversion and matches your brand. This will allow your customers to complete the transaction in a single payment environment, avoiding redirection between pages. As a result, you will increase sales and customer trust.

2. Introduce more mobile payment options to grow your audience

Enabling mobile-first payments is no longer a key differentiator. The growth of mobile payments is expected to continue in the coming years, driven by increasing convenience and speed. The global mobile payment transaction volumes are projected to almost double from 26 billion in 2021 to 49 billion in 2023 4 .

The customer’s choice of a specific mobile payment method will mostly depend on two main factors – location and age. For example, mobile wallets (WePay, AliPay) are more popular in Asia, while in-app payments via Apple Pay and Google Pay are more

commonly used in the United States and in Europe. At the same time, Generation Z is said to mostly find travel booking sources on social media while on their mobile, while only 10% of the older generation uses social channels for the same purpose.

Focusing on your audience’s preferred sourcing and mobile payment methods will lead you to convert more transactions in the long run. To achieve this, make sure to partner with a PSP that offers the widest variety of mobile-first payment options in your key strategic markets.

26 Billion

3. Enable flexible payments to maximize conversion

Build customer loyalty and trust with BNPL and split payments

The pandemic has created more uncertainty in travel, with many customers unsure about their future travel plans and afraid to make longterm financial commitments.

With that, there has been an increase in demand for flexible payment options, such as buy now, pay later (BNPL) and split payment options

allowing consumers to spread out the cost of their trip over a period of time. Enabling these options via trusted payment partner will make sure you have an easy entry point for customers who are hesitant about their travel plans.

Retain more customers with decline recovery & partial approvals

At the checkout, shoppers may face card declines for various reasons, such as card expiry, reaching a daily credit limit or having a large purchase falsely flagged risky by the bank. Integrating a decline recovery solution can address this by automatically responding to the decline, giving customers the opportunity to choose another payment method or seek assistance from your support team. With Nuvei’s decline

recovery feature, you can prevent cart abandonment and increase your approval rates, ultimately leading to more revenue opportunities and higher conversion rates.

4. Make payments convenient for travellers in all of your target markets

The lack of preferred payment option is one of the top 10 reasons holding customers back from completing their purchase 5 . Local and alternative forms of payment help travel companies expand their reach and improve customer satisfaction while lowering transaction costs. Traditional payment methods, like cards, are not always accessible or preferred by all customers, especially in emerging markets where card penetration is low. By offering local payment methods - such as Interac in Canada or

Pix in Brazil - travel companies can tap into the new markets and increase their revenue streams. Moreover, alternative forms of payment can enhance the customer experience by providing greater convenience, security, and flexibility. Nuvei offers 600+ of payment options tailored to customers’ location and preference, ensuring that travel businesses have a seamless and customized booking and payment environment.

Why choose Nuvei for travel business acceleration?

Acquirer agnostic Global gateway and technology

Servicing over 200 markets worldwide

600+ local andalternative payment methods

150+ currencies

Automatically detect customer geolocation and display the relevant language and currency

Recover declined transactions using our suite of recovery tools and watch your revenue grow One click payments for return customers

ABOUT NUVEI

Nuvei (Nasdaq: NVEI) (TSX: NVEI) is the Canadian fintech company accelerating the business of clients around the world. Nuvei’s modular, flexible and scalable technology allows leading companies to accept next-gen payments, offer all payout options and benefit from card issuing, banking, risk and fraud management services. Connecting businesses to their customers in more than 200 markets, with local acquiring in 45+ markets, 150 currencies and more than 600 alternative payment methods, Nuvei provides the technology and insights for customers and partners to succeed locally and globally with one integration.

For more information, visit https://nuvei.com/