This month, we hosted Nium’s first ‘Travel Payments Summit’ in the vibrant city of Istanbul, bringing Turkey’s travel and payments industry leaders together for a day of knowledge sharing, networking, and insights. We enjoyed connecting with customers, partners, and friends old and new to uncover the innovative payments solutions helping travel intermediaries, airlines, and hotels tackle today’s dynamic travel landscape.
Here, we recap our key highlights from the event and share some of the exclusive behind-the-scenes content.
Turkey’s travel surge
Turkey’s travel industry has seen significant growth over the last couple of years, with tourism revenues hitting a record high of $54.32 billion in 2023. That’s 17% higher than in 2022. Turks are frequent travelers abroad, too, often visiting neighboring European and Middle Eastern destinations. Outbound tourism spending totaled $7.07 billion in 2023, back above pre-pandemic levels.
It’s a travel market to rival the world’s best. For travel intermediaries, airlines, and hotels, however, inefficient and costly B2B payments remain a barrier to capitalizing on this significant growth.
Poor payment processing is eating into Turkish travel intermediary profits
Many online travel agencies and distributors make regular payments to their airline and hotel suppliers overseas via bank wire transfers and credit cards. Run on legacy infrastructure, these methods often leave businesses at the mercy of volatile FX rates, significant delays, and costly fees. Transfers can be non-reversible and in the event of a dispute, it is unlikely that the money will be returned.
When we asked the Travel Summit audience the biggest challenge their organizations face when it comes to traditional B2B payment methods, 44% said high transaction fees, followed by slow settlement times (22%), security and fraud concerns (22%) and lack of control and visibility over payments (11%).
Reducing cost and complexity with virtual cards
One solution to these challenges is the use of virtual cards for B2B transactions across the travel ecosystem. Virtual cards are created and issued at a local level and plug into local payment rails in order to minimize FX fees and reduce the risk of fraud. Single-use virtual cards can be created with customizable fields and limits to give you full control and security, allowing for faster reconciliation whilst minimizing fraud risk.
Virtual cards are a mutually beneficial solution for travel businesses across the value chain, increasing collaboration between travel intermediaries and their suppliers to drive deeper value and connections.
When we asked the audience the top three benefits of virtual cards for their B2B payment strategy, they said:
- Reduced payment processing time
- Increased control and visibility of payment
- Enhanced reconciliation and reporting
What’s more, 80% of the attendees said they strongly agree that virtual cards offer a better overall payment experience for suppliers compared to other payment methods, whilst 20% said they neither agree or disagree.
Power your payments with Nium
Given the global-by-definition nature of travel services, cross-border money movement remains complex. With a range of airlines, accommodation partners, and regions to manage, many intermediaries still rely on a myriad of external payment providers, often on a country-by-country basis.
Nium is the leading global infrastructure for real-time cross-border payments. Building on the legacy of Ixaris, acquired by Nium in 2021, we bring over 20+ years expertise serving the travel ecosystem with innovative payment solutions. Today, with local virtual card issuing capabilities in over 20+ currencies and a global real-time payout network spanning over 220+ markets, Nium powers leading travel intermediaries and suppliers in Turkey, Europe, Asia Pacific, and around the world.
To find out more about how travel intermediaries are unlocking new revenue streams, enhancing customer satisfaction, and improving efficiency with virtual card solutions, download Nium’s guides to:
- How Virtual Cards Create an Air Travel Payments Revolution
- How Virtual Cards Are Shaping the Future of Hotel Payments
Thank you to all of our attendees for your participation. Stay tuned to find out where Nium will be taking its Travel Payment Summit next. Until then!
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