OTAs need more payment options

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Online travel agents (OTA) in Australia need to broaden their range of payment options to compete with international competitors, according to new local research from Worldpay.

Data from a recent report, ‘Why Do They Pay That Way?’ Report, revealed that Australians are the world’s best prepared and most experienced tourists.

A quarter of the respondents plan their holidays more than six months before departure and 49.5% said their last holiday lasted three weeks or more.

Worldpay’s research also indicated that travellers are seeking new ways to pay. Although 65% of Australians said they would pay for their next holiday on plastic, 12% said they wanted to use PayPal. Interestingly, 76% said they were also interested in paying for package holidays with instalment plans.

Worldpay, general manager Asia Pacific, Global eCommerce, Phil Pomford said Australians travel for longer periods of time, aren’t afraid to make big travel expenditures, and are interested in exploring new payment options.

“Online travel agents need to offer more choices to these demanding, seasoned travellers – including alternative payment methods like PayPal, and instalment plans that spread around the cost of expensive, longer holidays.”

Australia had the second highest rate of PayPal use in all markets studied, and when questioned by Worldpay about alternatives to credit and debit cards when buying package holidays online, 17% of those surveyed said they would book their holiday using PayPal.

Pomford notes an important point for agents to consider is that Australian consumers’ travel habits and payment preferences vary depending on age.

In Australia, the real long-term travellers are retirees. While just 26% of 18-25-year-olds in Australia said their last holiday lasted four weeks or longer, a remarkable 65% of Australians over 65 went on holiday for a month or more at a time.

Travellers over the age of 35 were also much more likely to favour credit cards – over 61% of consumers aged 35 and up wanted to pay by card and just 11% of those 55 and up wanted to pay with PayPal, as compared to 20% of consumers aged 18-34 who said they would use PayPal to book a package holiday online.

Worldpay is a global payment solutions provider which launched in Australia in early August 2016. In Australia, it works with travel focused companies such as Cathay Pacific and Expedia, as well as organisations such as ASOS, Freelancer and Digital World International.

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au