Trustly, the Swedish open banking payment solution provider, has revealed that UK holidaymakers spent 230 per cent more year-on-year on travel in January 2024 using account-to-account payment technology.
Adoption of Pay by Bank is gradually increasing among both consumers and businesses alike, Trustly says, as it reveals that, across Europe, using it to spend on travel has risen by seven per cent YoY in January.
January often proves to be the most popular month to book holidays, as people look to escape dreary UK weather and book something to look forward to for the year ahead, while also coinciding with when many businesses offer substantial discounts.
After the UK, the largest increase in spending of any European country has been in Germany with 22 per cent growth compared to the same month last year.
The growth is based on Trustly’s transaction data from more than 250 travel businesses across Europe that now use its technology. Trustly’s technology has been adopted by some of the world’s largest travel firms including Booking.com, Etihad Airways, Norwegian Air, Wizz Air, Air France, and Stena Line.
Using open banking at the checkout enables travel firms to benefit from lower processing fees, a reduction in chargebacks, and immediate settlement to improve cash flow.
Simon Eve, vice president of travel and e-commerce at Trustly UK, said: “Payments are particularly complicated in the travel industry, where delayed settlements are common and businesses face a higher fraud risk that drives up cost and increases operational challenges. To tackle this, airlines and hotel providers are now offering open banking payment options as well as traditional card payments.
“Open banking creates multiple efficiencies for firms by reducing processing fees, cutting chargebacks, and allowing significantly faster settlement of payments to improve cash flow. As travel firms typically deal with high-value transactions and long settlement delays, they stand to gain significantly by adopting account-to-account payments.”
