In the fast-ticking world of modern travel, where booking a holiday now takes less time than brewing a coffee, 79% of Gen Z travellers are already swiping, tapping and scanning their way through life with digital wallets. Yet, in a twist that would make any fintech evangelist clutch their contactless card in disbelief, more than a third of hotels and many tour and activity operators still haven’t boarded the real-time payments express.
According to global payments infrastructure heavyweight TerraPay, real-time transactions will account for 27% of all global payments by 2028. That’s not a sideshow trend; it’s the main act. The front-row audience is a generation that treats speed and simplicity not as luxuries but as birthrights.
Generation Z: The Instant Gratification Tourists
Koert Grasveld, VP of Payments at TerraPay
Koert Grasveld, Terrapay’s Vice President of Payments, says younger travellers’ message couldn’t be clearer or faster.
“Gen Z has grown up in a mobile-first world. They’ve got an attention span of about eight seconds, so naturally they expect a payment to be done in less time than it takes to blink twice. Digital wallets are perfect for them — cheaper, faster, more inclusive and opening the door to entirely new business models.”
It’s a generation that books 80–90% of its travel via mobile devices, often in bed, on the bus, or between coffee sips, and frequently with the help of integrated wallet solutions.
And here’s the kicker: 40% of Gen Z travellers have booked a holiday because they saw it on TikTok, and nearly half find their wanderlust fed daily on Instagram. If hotels can’t accept their preferred payment method in the same frictionless, one-click way they’ve come to expect, they won’t hang around politely. They’ll move on, possibly to a competitor who can.
The Industry’s Digital Divide
Despite the clear direction of the market, 35% of hotels remain unprepared to accept digital wallets, according to TerraPay’s analysis. The situation is even more dire among smaller property owners and niche activity providers, many of whom still wrestle with the bureaucracy of traditional banking.
“Small operators often face high transaction fees, sluggish settlement times and labyrinthine processes,” explains Grasveld. “For someone running one or two properties, these inefficiencies can choke cash flow and make it incredibly difficult to compete internationally.”
These barriers are not just inconvenient — they’re commercially dangerous. In a hyper-competitive global tourism market, speed is not just a selling point; it’s survival.
Real-Time Payments: Not Just a Fad
Real-time transactions are no longer confined to peer-to-peer transfers or sending birthday money to your cousin in Perth. It’s reshaping global commerce, breaking down borders in ways that traditional payment systems can’t match.
And digital wallets aren’t tagging along for the ride; they’re driving the bus. Whether booking a last-minute flight from Sydney to Singapore or paying for a sunset camel trek in Broome, Gen Z travellers expect the funds to leave their account and land at the operator’s in a heartbeat.
“At TerraPay, we’ve already hit 97% instant settlement on our platform,” Grasveld notes with no small measure of pride. “Sending money instantly, anywhere, any amount — that’s not a future dream. That’s now.”
The TikTok and Tap Generation
In the age of TikTok, where the line between inspiration and purchase is thinner than a boarding pass, social media isn’t just influencing where Gen Z goes — it’s dictating how they pay to get there.
Imagine this: a young traveller scrolls through a 15-second clip of a hidden beach in the Whitsundays, taps to book, pays with a digital wallet, and has confirmation in under a minute. The entire transaction is over before the video loops for the second time.
That’s the reality of the travel market, which hotels are entering, whether they’re ready or not.
Lag Now, Lose Later
Industry veterans may shrug, insisting that guests will still pull out a plastic card at check-in, but the numbers tell a different story. The momentum behind real-time payments is gathering speed — and not the leisurely, Sunday-drive sort.
By 2028, more than a quarter of all global transactions will happen in real time, and those who haven’t adapted may find themselves edged out by nimbler competitors — not just in urban hotspots but also in regional and adventure tourism markets.
The message for the hospitality sector is as sharp as it is urgent: embrace digital wallets, or risk watching an entire generation of travellers pass you by without so much as a tap on the EFTPOS machine.
By Susan Ng
