đź’µ Buy Now Pay Later a Growing Opportunity in Travel Market
While many wealthy Canadian, European, and American travelers can easily pay for their vacations and trips, most others are stretched to make them happen.
Not being able to buy a travel package right away, as expected, means they don’t. And that results in making travel experiences less important in their lives. They can’t do it, so they move on with their lives, or perhaps make plans for a staycation or camping trip. That’s what hopeful travelers do when they’re disappointed.
In order for travel companies to stay relevant to consumer’s and capture their intent while on their travel website, they’ll need to somehow help with their inadequate finances. And this is where the increasingly popular service of buy now, pay later arrives to save the day.n.
Buy Now Pay Later
What’s known as BNPL is opening the door for a big increase in consumer travel purchases. Stats show travelers are using it, and in many cases, won’t buy without it. For them, the service is used most often for longer airline flights and all-inclusive vacations.
BNPL services helps travelers spread the cost of their travel purchase into smaller, manageable payments over a period of time, like weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly installments which allows them to book their 2026 vacation now to secure their flight, hotel, cruise and tours.
Travel Financing to the Rescue
If the numbers don’t add up for travel to purchase a cruise, resort holiday, ecotour adventure, or European adventure, they’ll be open to these buy now pay later financial solutions. Vacation financing is a big trend and a number of companies are hopping up to fulfill that market. For a travel agency or resort destination organization to leverage this opportunity, they’ll need to integrate the financing services platform. Since it’s a 3rd party company, travelers might feel more assured that their funds are secure.
This financing element might be just the ticket for your company’s rescue too.
Why It’s an Asset for Your Travel Business
Because with the service, you’re helping:
- secure their booking immediately while allowing them pay in installments
- attract more travelers who wouldn’t have booked with you
- increase your company’s significance to them (memory)
- them finance their trip
- decrease their friction regarding a major vacation
- to keep them away from competitors (securing their preference)
- improve your brand value and create brand awareness, to help capitalize on later touchpoints via your social media and SEO, and remarketing efforts
If these potential travel customers don’t book their trip right away, you’ve at least established your brand in their minds. It gives you an opportunity to present your value proposition to suit their travel intent, and build a pleasant, harmonious relationship that can increase the success of the financing program.
Because it’s not enough to offer a financing scheme. You still have to win their hearts and make your agency the only one they will ever want.
- BNPL Market Growth & Adoption
- The global BNPL market is projected to reach $3.98 trillion by 2030 (CAGR of 45.7%), with travel being a major growth sector.
- 40% of travelers say they are more likely to book a trip if BNPL is offered..
- Over 60% of millennials and Gen ZÂ travelers prefer BNPL for vacation bookings (Bankrate 2024).
- Travel Industry-Specific Usage
- Airlines & OTAs: Major players like Kayak, Expedia, American Airlines, and Air France-KLM now offer BNPL options (via Affirm, Klarna, or Afterpay).
- Average BNPL travel transaction: $800–$1,200, with installment plans typically spanning 3–12 months.
- Booking window: BNPL is most popular for long-haul flights (45%) and all-inclusive vacation packages (30%).
- Consumer Behavior Insights
- Top reasons for using BNPL in travel:
- Budget flexibility (58%)
- Spreading out large expenses (42%)
- Avoiding credit card debt (35%)
- 63% of BNPL travel users say they wouldn’t have booked without the option.
Buy Now Pay Later Financing Solutions
Let’s look at some of the BNLP services you might want to use:
Uplift/FlexPay
The startup Uplift built its brand on the promise of giving travelers a little help in their travel dream. This year, the company has been rebrand to Flexpay. As the screen suggests, the value proposition is simple ( a smile ) representing the calm confidence of knowing they will be taking that amazing vacation. Whether they’re attending a friends wedding in the Caribbean, or taking a tour of Costa Rica’s volcanos, or a two-week bucketlist trip to Italy, they can see the path to their cherished travel experience.
I’ve covered much on traveler’s pre-trip visualization as the foundation of their travel experience, And Flexpay seems to take care of all that. It amounts to a department store layaway plan, and travelers can book your trips/tours and forget about it.
Slice PayÂ
Slice Pay lets travelers book at today’s flight, hotel and tour prices, protecting them from price rises. They can secure flight prices with a small deposit, and pay the remainder over instalments.
A popular payment system used by major travel companies is Affirm.
Affirm, the travelers never owes more than they agree to upfront. Instead, they receive a flexible, transparent, and convenient way to pay over time. By being listed in the Affirm online store, you have a new additional lead source.
After Pay Alternative Airlines
After Pay is a buy now pay later service primarily serving the consumer goods marketplace, however they have one specific channel for airline flight purchases called Alternative Airlines.
With over 600 airlines to choose from, flight buyers can purchase any flights now and spread the cost over weekly or monthly installments. Shoppers select their flight and choose Afterpay at checkout. Bookings can be made using Afterpay with Alternative Airlines if a resident of the US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada or the UK (Clearpay).
Klarna
Similar to Afterpay, Swedish company Klarna lets consumers buy what they want today and pay for it over time. A traveler can book now and pay for their purchase over 4 installments collected very two weeks. It’s not as flexible so perhaps not suitable for large vacation purchases. Stayed tune to hear of their service improvements.
The variety of buy now pay later travel lenders at this point is a little scarce, but given Klarna is about go public at an astounding IPO valuation, you know investors believe this buy now pay later business opportunity isn’t going away soon.
Reach and Activate a Larger Travel Audience
For your agency, hotel, or tour company, the BNPL trend simply means being visible and significant to a larger audience. BNPL is just one more way your brand can capture a great audience online, make your advertising spend and lead generation more effective, and establish a relationship that can be rekindled via your ongoing social media and SEO campaigns.
Learn more about effective travel marketing strategy, and affordable travel marketing services that make your travel company a visible, esteemed business your customers can’t live without.
