Modernizing payment and financial operations systems has become one of the top priorities for travel companies as they aim to achieve global scale rapidly and strategically.

Unprecedented growth in global travel is creating exciting opportunities for travel companies. However, welcoming new customers from different countries can amplify numerous issues associated with the payment lifecycle, which may create complexities for finance and management teams. Furthermore, manual reconciliation processes complicate the cycle of collecting payments from customers and delivering payouts to vendors, often incurring significant operating costs.

Skift and Airwallex recently conducted a survey of nearly 500 global travel executives, which revealed insights into their global expansion challenges — particularly the complexities of international customer, supplier, and vendor payments amid rapid business growth and intense competition. This report explores why choices they make today to streamline and unify their payment and financial operations will impact their ability to stay competitive in the future.

In this report:

• 75% of travel companies earn more than one-quarter of their revenue from cross-border payments: See what this means for payment and financial operations strategy for small- and medium-sized travel companies.
• 88% of companies frequently make payments to suppliers or vendors in foreign currencies: Explore why managing supplier and vendor payments is critical in achieving global scale.
• 90% of travel executives are prioritizing upgrades to payment and financial operations systems: Find out what they’re investing in and why.
• 80% of executives would be interested in an all-in-one payment and financial operations platform: Explore how adopting end-to-end payment systems can strengthen companies’ competitive position.

1. Executive Summary
2. Methodology
3. Introduction: The Rise of Cross-Border Travel and Its Impact on Payments
4. Diversity of Payment Methods and Currencies Complicates Global Expansion
5. The Importance of Simplifying Supplier and Vendor Payments and Financial Operations
6. The Urgency to Upgrade: Investment Priorities for Tech and Finance Innovation in Travel
7. Conclusion: A Roadmap for Modernizing Payment and Financial Operations Technology