Fifty years into the business, Travelex has finally done what most legacy FX players probably should’ve done a decade ago: published a proper data-backed look at how travellers actually manage their money abroad. The inaugural Travel Money Insights Report, drawing on twelve months of Travelex revenue data and consumer surveys across key global markets, lands with a headline number that will surprise exactly no one in the travel industry — and probably frustrate a few fintech founders: 69% of travellers still use cash when they travel internationally. travel money trends

That figure doesn’t just hold; in most regions, it exceeds card usage. This makes for an interesting counternarrative to the dominant story in payments, where cash has gone from the most-used payment method in 2016 to third place by 2024, now sitting behind both credit and debit cards in domestic US spending. Cross-border travel, it turns out, plays by different rules.

Why Cash Won’t Die at the Border

The logic is fairly straightforward when you think about it. Home markets are increasingly cashless, yes. But the moment you land somewhere unfamiliar, the risk calculus shifts. Card acceptance is inconsistent across many destinations. Dynamic currency conversion fees can quietly erode the value of every tap. And for the inevitable small transactions — a taxi, a tip, a market vendor — cash is simply the path of least resistance.

Philip Bowcock, Travelex CEO, put it plainly:

“Domestic cash transactions may be falling, but in the travel money market, cash firmly remains king. Cash remains vital for small items like tipping and taxis, whilst many travellers have reservations over cards being accepted and potential fees.”

The report reinforces this with a specific behavioral insight: most travellers aren’t choosing cash or card — they’re carrying both. The combination approach reflects a pragmatic hedge, not brand loyalty to physical currency. It’s about optionality in uncertain environments.

The Shift That Actually Matters

The headline cash stat is interesting. The behavioral shift buried in the data is more interesting. Only 6% of survey respondents reported buying travel money on the day of travel — a dramatic move away from the classic last-minute airport bureau model that defined FX retail for decades.

As Bowcock acknowledged:

“Travellers who traditionally relied on airport stores to acquire cash last minute are today far more inclined to do so in the weeks leading up to their trip — be that when they do their holiday shopping, or through alternative channels such as home delivery or pre-order click-and-collect. Airport stores are still a key resource for many, but the market has shifted.”

This is the structural story. Pre-trip planning is becoming default behavior, and that unlocks a completely different distribution model — one where e-commerce, home delivery, and click-and-collect compete directly with the airport kiosk. For a company like Travelex, which built its empire on premium-location physical touchpoints, that’s both a challenge and an opportunity to own the pre-departure channel.

What This Means Beyond Travelex

Here’s where it gets broader. A January 2025 Discover Global Network survey found that 68% of travellers plan to use credit cards for personal travel expenses, and 43% have experienced their card being declined abroad. That last stat alone explains why cash persists — not nostalgia, but genuine functional backup.

Meanwhile, the travel fintech space has moved aggressively into the same territory. Revolut — now valued at $75 billion following a secondary share sale in late 2025, with a customer base exceeding 60 million — built its initial product-market fit precisely on the promise of cheaper FX for travelers. Wise operates on similar logic: mid-market rates, no markup, transparent fees. Both have done a credible job of eating into the traditional bank and bureau de change margins for digitally-native travelers.

But neither Revolut nor Wise has killed cash demand for travel. If anything, the Travelex data suggests the two categories coexist more comfortably than the fintech narrative would have you believe. The traveller carrying a Wise card is often the same traveller who also wants €200 in physical euros before landing in a rural part of southern Italy or a street food market in Bangkok.

The Bigger Picture

Travelex publishing this report in its 50th year is as much a positioning move as a data exercise. It’s a company making the case for its own continued relevance in a market that has, fairly or not, been written off by parts of the fintech press. The data gives them grounds to push back.

Conclusion

The real takeaway isn’t that cash is making a comeback — it never left the travel context. The more significant shift is behavioral: planning horizons are lengthening, and that changes everything about distribution and customer acquisition. Whoever owns the pre-trip moment — whether that’s a Travelex home delivery service, a Revolut in-app FX conversion, or a travel super app bundling currency with insurance and eSIM data — wins the relationship before the traveller ever reaches the departure gate.

Legacy players like Travelex and newer entrants like Wise or Revolut aren’t competing for the same customer at the same time anymore. The battleground has moved upstream. And for companies in adjacent travel-tech verticals — connectivity, booking, insurance — that pre-trip planning window represents an increasingly valuable distribution moment worth paying close attention to.