Dumping cash for cards

As global spending behaviour changes, Thai banks are racing to win over travellers with new digital payment options, writes Nuntawun Polkuamdee

- Nuntawun Polkuamdee

nternational travel has been transformed more in the past decade than in the previous 50 years.

Flights are booked instantly, hotels auto-recommend themselves, and in many major cities, cash has vanished almost entirely.

Paying, the most analogue part of travelling, has become a critical arena for digital innovation. Across Asia, from Shanghai to Seoul to Singapore, QR codes now dominate retail counters and subway gates, while mobile wallets have replaced conventional wallets.

For modern travellers, cash is no longer convenient, but is seen as a risk and increasingly useless.

This rapid shift has opened up a new competitive landscape for banks: the rise of the travel debit card.

In Thailand, one of Asia's largest outbound travel markets and a key destination for Chinese tourists, travel cards are quickly becoming the financial product defining the future of global tourism.

Leading this transformation is the Krungthai Travel Debit Card, a product designed not only for seamless overseas spending but also to connect Thailand's financial system with China's powerful digital payment platforms.

CASH NO LONGER KING

For Thai travellers, the habit of exchanging wads of yuan, yen or euros is fading fast. In China's major cities, cash acceptance has dwindled to near zero. Even taxi drivers and small vendors prefer QR payments.

Japan, once famous for its cash-centric culture, has embraced digital wallets. South Korea and Singapore operate in nearly cashless environments, said Suripong Tantiyanon, chief retail banking officer at Krungthai Bank (KTB).

Factors that have driven the shift in traveller behaviour are poor exchange rates at airports, high overseas ATM fees, and foreign cards that fail to work with local payment systems.