Tourism will return to pre-2020 figures - are you ready?

How to face the recovery of the tourism sector with fintech

Although there are different predictions regarding the recovery of the tourism and hospitality sector, they all lead (sooner or later) to the same conclusion: tourists are visiting our country again, and the figures will eventually return to pre-2020 values. How do we know? In this post we bring you the summary of the three main financial companies’ forecasts for the recovery of the tourism and hospitality sector. Do you have a hospitality business? A hotel? A restaurant? A transport company? Are you prepared to face this increase in sales in the best possible way?

American Express predicts slow but steady growth

Meanwhile, American Express already published in the last tax year 2021 that the profits of the tourism sector were in excess of twelve billion dollars, which represents a 31% growth compared to the tax year 2020. Even with such positive figures, it is the US firm that is adopting a more cautious stance. According to the firm’s CEO and Chairman, Steve Squeri, "we are living in a moment of “great momentum" for the travel sector towards 2022 on a global scale."

"We expect both consumers and small and medium-sized businesses to drive the tourism and entertainment sector to full recovery by the end of 2022," says Jeff Campbell, Chief Financial Officer of the Financial Giant. "The economic recovery in cross-border sales is going to be the last to happen. We were already counting on travel and entertainment spending to be the last to return to normal. That is why it is in 2022 and 2023 that we may witness a more solid growth in this type of sales," he adds.

In line with American Express, The Global Business Travel Association predicts that corporate travel will return to its recent highs by the end of 2024, due to the return to face-to-face meetings after almost two years of video conferencing.

Visa is clear: the tourism sector will be back to its best figures soon

For its part, Visa records a 40% growth in cross-border sales in October and November 2021, as mobility restrictions are lifted in most regions. Vasant Prabhu, the company’s Vice Chair and Chief Financial Officer, stated: "The long-awaited reopening of borders happened ahead of schedule, but the consumer reacted very quickly." "We expect cross-border payments to continue to grow throughout 2022 to reach 2019 levels by summer 2023," adds Chairman and CEO Alfred Kelly.

VISA’s figures also leave nothing to be desired: cross-border sales are up 102% year-on-year, already standing at 72% of 2019 figures. Transactions related to annual peaks sales are already at 40% of 2019 sales for the same dates.

Mastercard, appears the most optimistic

Last but not least: Mastercard. The brand’s net profit grows by 27%, or 5.2f billion dollars in the fourth quarter of 2021. In this case, the company’s CEO, Michael Miebach, affirms that "the tourism sector and the sales associated with it (cross-border) will recover pre-2019 values by the end of this year", making the financial firm the most optimistic among the three companies.

Cross-border sales, keys to the recovery of the tourism sector

Cross-border sales are a key indicator to measure the recovery of the tourism sector: they include operations carried out with certain payment methods outside their national territory of reference and can be used to keep track of the mobility of capital between countries. Are you optimising cross-border sales in your business? How? You don't know how to do it? Don't worry, you're in the right hands. As an expert financial partner since 2009, cross-border payment management is one of our flagship solutions, helping small and large businesses to optimise their conversion to the fullest. We introduce you to the alternative payment methods that will offer the best to your most international customers.

How to offer them? Thanks to the PayXpert payment gateway, you can offer more than 25 alternative payment methods, supported by more than 100 different currencies, so that you can offer your international customers the possibility to make their purchases with their usual payment method. Make them feel at home thousands of miles away from their country thanks to a powerful financial technology tool, and optimise cross-border sales in your business.