How Businesses Can Benefit From The Upcoming Travel Fever

This article was contributed by Revolut.

Singapore consumers dusted off their suitcases in October as Revolut Singapore’s latest data revealed that spending on travel-related categories surged 367% compared to October last year.

The digital payments app, which has over 100,000 customers here, said it has been seeing an upward trend in overseas physical spend since May this year. Overseas physical spend is defined as “payments made in-person in-store abroad”.

“Despite the many uncertainties over restrictions placed on dining-in and social gatherings, one thing Revolut’s data is clearly showing — many in Singapore are ready to travel and they are prepared to spend,” says James Shanahan, CEO of Revolut Singapore.

As more and more countries got added to the Vaccinated Travel Lane, overseas physical spend grew 102% in October compared to a year ago. Last month, the Top 5 countries visited by Revolut customers were: the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the United States, and Spain.

The Different Stages of Travel Spending

For businesses, this surge in travel-related spending among Singapore consumers can be seen as a sign that people may have come to accept that living with the pandemic is the “new normal”.

“While an increase in overseas physical spend signals the return of international travel, we should bear in mind that consumer spending doesn’t just occur when a person is abroad,” says James.

“There’s the pre-travel part of it where people will be looking to book air-tickets and accommodation, and shopping for their travel wardrobe. Then upon coming home to Singapore, they’ll be making use of services like food delivery and healthcare as they serve out their SHN,” he adds.

Find Ways To Embed Business In Customers’ Lives

So how can local businesses tap into the upcoming travel fever? One way to do so is to find opportunities to embed your products and services into the conversation. “Travelling today involves some degree of uncertainty and planning for a trip can take up a lot of your time and energy. What if an F&B business is able to deliver all your meals to you during your SHN at a competitive subscription price? What if your condo’s mini-mart is able to throw in free ART test kits whenever it sends your groceries to your door?” James muses.

The point is, there is no need to think you have to watch from the sidelines as families take off for vacations. Think of travel restarting as an event like Christmas. It’s become normal for stores and brands to launch Christmas campaigns once December rolls around so why not take the chance to create something relevant to travel too?

There Will Still Be People Who Won’t Travel

Revolut’s data also revealed that consumers aged 25 – 34 accounted for the majority of the spend recorded overseas, with those aged 35 – 44 coming in second. This may indicate that families with young children and the elderly may not yet want to hit the road so soon.

“Not all of us will be flocking to get the first flight out. For those who choose not to travel right now, there are opportunities to help them deal with FOMO,” says James.

Without being too prescriptive, perhaps small business-owners can explore destination-themed deals, while those with larger war chests can look at partnerships to reward and incentivise purchases made online or in-store.

“There’s no hard and fast rule to say who can or cannot tap into the buzz surrounding travel right now. I think the key is to keep exploring, iterating, and experimenting with a small audience or within a limited time period to gauge response and adapt accordingly,” James concludes.

This article is contributed by Revolut. Revolut is helping over 16 million customers worldwide to easily exchange currencies, perform overseas ATM withdrawals, and make contactless payments with little to no fees. Find out more at .

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