The global business travel industry—valued at almost $700B in 2020 and projected to reach $2T by 2028—has seen a fair share of fintechs and financial institutions disrupting the space. But a lot of these solutions—like the SAPs and Amex corporate cards of the world—have still left large product gaps for other fintechs to fill, potentially minting a new cohort of companies dominating travel from a financial perspective:

Modern reimbursement processes

Fintechs have understood that current reimbursement processes are outdated. Torpago, for instance, which is building a next-generation business spend management solution, sees how the old-school method of sharing a handful of corporate cards doesn’t function as well in the age of remote work.

“You've got a card number on the fly anywhere in the world,” Torpago’s Founder & CEO, Brent Jackson, told The Financial Revolutionist. “Getting access to cards in real time has been a huge push for the back office.”

Of course, a wide range of other fintechs share this space, including Brex, Pleo, Expensify, Marqeta, and others.

Currency transfers

Local currencies still present a volatile layer in travel-related user experiences. With exchange rate uncertainty as well as many destinations operating as cash-based economies, travelers can confront a confounding and expensive set of institutions carrying out exchanges and transfers. Fintechs like Wise have disrupted this space, offering affordable and nearly instantaneous transfers into over 60 currencies.

Incumbents have paid attention, however—giants like MoneyGram are actively hoping to maintain their dominance in remittance and travel spaces, partnering with up-and-coming players like Circle to test out stablecoin-related functionalities.

BNPL for travel

Finally, although not a product development that affects travel and tourism alone, BNPL has provided a financial tool that arguably expands access to travel-related products and services. Through partnerships with BNPL giants like Affirm and Klarna, travel platforms like Expedia and KAYAK have expanded their financial footprint.

Through this move, travel platforms have blurred the lines between financial and travel services—but risks remain. If macroeconomic conditions lead to higher default rates on BNPL loans, then these travel platforms may have seen only a temporary increase in their user base, leading to misleading growth rates and the potential for investor disappointment.