For years, outbound travelers trained themselves to be loyal. You picked an airline alliance, you chased tier status, you stuck to one hotel chain, you hoarded points like they were a second currency. Even your mobile connectivity had a “loyalty” angle: you used your home operator abroad, you tolerated the bill later, and you told yourself it was worth it because “I’m with them.” 

Now? More and more travelers are doing the opposite.

They are becoming fiercely loyal to one thing only: not being inconvenienced.

And the fastest way to buy that peace of mind today is an eSIM. Not a points upgrade. Not a lounge pass. Not another “exclusive member offer.” Just instant, predictable data the minute you land.

That is why travel eSIM revenue is exploding, with Juniper Research estimating travel eSIM package revenue reaching $1.8B in 2025 and growing sharply beyond that.

What’s actually changing in traveler behavior

Let’s be specific about what “choosing eSIMs over loyalty” looks like in the real world.

It is not that travelers are canceling every loyalty account tomorrow. It is that, at the moment of truth, they are prioritizing connectivity certainty over loyalty rituals.

A few patterns keep showing up:

The “I’ll take the cheaper flight, I’ll fix the rest with eSIM” traveler

Traditional loyalty logic says: book the airline you are loyal to, even if it costs a bit more, because you will “earn it back” in perks.

But many travelers do the math differently now. They book the best-value flight for that trip, then solve the pain points independently: airport transfer, baggage, seat selection, and yes, mobile data.

OAG’s 2024 traveler survey points in this direction: people are cost-conscious and less swayed by traditional airline loyalty programs than airlines would like to believe.

The “status is nice, but signal is survival” business traveler

If you are outbound for work, “connectivity” is no longer a convenience. It is operational. Your Slack, your authenticator app, your maps, your ride-hailing, your QR codes for everything, your bank approvals, your travel risk comms, your family check-ins, it all rides on data.

So travelers are building a new hierarchy of needs:

1. Make sure the phone works immediately.
2. Make sure the costs are predictable.
3. Then maybe care about points.

GSMA Intelligence has been tracking how travel is becoming a major driver for consumer eSIM momentum, including operators launching travel eSIM offers.

The “I don’t trust points value anymore” traveler

This is the emotional shift. A lot of travelers no longer treat points like a stable asset. They treat them like a currency that can be devalued.

That frustration is not imaginary. Even major strategy voices have acknowledged the tension: loyalty programs have tightened benefits and members have “chafed” at devaluations and clawbacks.

So when eSIM shows up with something brutally clear, like “10GB, 30 days, €X,” it feels refreshingly honest compared to a loyalty chart that requires a PhD and still changes next quarter.

Why eSIM wins this moment

eSIM is not winning because travelers suddenly love telecom. It is winning because it matches how people actually travel in 2026.

Friction is the enemy now

Travel has become more app-driven and more verification-heavy. Airports, hotels, payments, visas, two-factor authentication, ride apps, even restaurant menus, all assume you are connected.

In that environment, “I will sort connectivity later” is a risky plan.

An eSIM turns connectivity into a pre-departure checkbox, not an arrival problem. That shift matters more than most loyalty perks.

Travelers want optionality, not commitment

The big psychological difference between loyalty programs and eSIM behavior is this:

Loyalty asks you to commit now for a payoff later.

eSIM gives you value now, with no commitment.

And that “no commitment” element is exactly why it is eating into old loyalty instincts, not just for airlines and hotels, but for mobile operators too. If you can switch connectivity per trip in two minutes, you stop behaving like a “loyal subscriber” while traveling.

Travel eSIM is scaling fast, and the market is validating it

This is not a niche anymore. Juniper’s travel eSIM forecasts are aggressive, and even if you discount the hype factor, the direction is clear: travel eSIM is becoming a mainstream roaming alternative.

Kaleido Intelligence also treats travel eSIM as a serious retail category, backed by large traveler surveys across multiple markets, and has been mapping the competitive landscape across dozens of providers.

When serious analyst houses keep publishing dedicated travel eSIM outlooks, it is usually because the demand signal is no longer questionable.

How travel brands are reacting

This is where it gets interesting, because travel companies are starting to behave like connectivity companies, and connectivity companies are starting to behave like travel brands.

Airlines and OTAs are trying to bundle “certainty.”

Loyalty programs are being pushed to reinvent themselves, partly because travelers are less impressed by traditional rewards and more focused on practical value.

That practical value increasingly includes things that reduce trip anxiety: priority support, disruption management, flexible changes, and yes, connectivity add-ons.

Mobile operators are moving into travel eSIM

GSMA Intelligence has pointed out that more operators are launching travel eSIM propositions.

This is not operators being generous. It is operators defending the relationship with travelers who have realized they can buy “travel connectivity” elsewhere.

Travel eSIM providers are positioning like loyalty replacements

Watch the messaging: it is not “cheap data” anymore. It is “stress-free travel,” “instant activation,” “one eSIM for many trips,” “predictable connectivity.”

In other words, eSIM brands are marketing the emotional benefit loyalty programs used to own: confidence.

What this means for the market

Here’s the uncomfortable take for anyone still clinging to the old model.

Outbound travelers are not becoming disloyal. They are becoming loyal to outcomes.

They will still join programs, but they will not tolerate friction just to prove devotion. If your loyalty proposition feels abstract while the traveler’s need is immediate, you lose the moment.

eSIM is the perfect product for this era because it turns a high-stress, high-uncertainty travel problem into a simple purchase with immediate payoff.

And once travelers internalize that feeling, they start applying it everywhere: flights, hotels, insurance, lounges, and even how they pay. Optionality becomes the new status.

Conclusion

The travel industry has spent decades teaching consumers to think long-term: collect points now, redeem later. The travel eSIM boom is teaching them the opposite lesson: solve the problem now, stay flexible later.

That is why this shift is bigger than connectivity. It is a signal about what modern travelers trust.

Loyalty programs can absolutely survive, but only if they stop acting like the reward is the point. The reward is reduced hassle. Reduced risk. Reduced mental load. That is what eSIM delivers in one click, which is why travelers are reaching for it first.

The brands that win the next phase will not ask travelers to “be loyal.” They will earn repeat behavior by making the trip feel controlled, connected, and boring in the best way.

And if you want a simple benchmark for your own travel product strategy in 2026, ask this: does it feel as instantly useful as an eSIM on arrival? If not, travelers will treat it like points: nice to have, easy to ignore.