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When you earn miles by dining out, take a Grab to the airport, or use a rewards card while shopping, you’re already participating in what we call the Traveller Economy, even if you’re not currently traveling.
This shift is redefining how people think about travel around the world. It’s no longer a one-off purchase or annual holiday, but a constant presence in daily life, influencing everything from spending habits to lifestyle choices. Nowhere is this change more visible, or growing more quickly, than in Asia, where rising incomes, digital adoption, and a growing middle class are accelerating this evolution.
The Traveller Economy represents a broader shift beyond the traditional travel sector. Where the focus was once limited to airlines, hotels and tour providers, attention is now centered on the individual traveller and the entire arc of their journey, from dreaming and planning to booking, experiencing and sharing. For younger consumers, especially Millennials and Gen Z, travel is not a luxury or reward, it’s a core lifestyle priority. Many are making active trade-offs, spending less in other categories so they can afford to travel more frequently or more comfortably.
Asia is already showing what this future looks like. Outbound travel from the region is projected to reach 535 million trips annually by 2030, nearly doubling pre-pandemic levels. Markets like India and Indonesia are driving this growth. India’s outbound travellers are expected to triple by 2040, and Indonesia is adding around 10 million middle-class consumers every year. Even in markets where recovery has been slower, like China, the appetite remains strong. Chinese travellers accounted for 25 percent of global tourism spend in 2023.
But the growth isn’t just in volume, it’s in value. More travellers are opting for business-class seats, premium hotel stays, and experiences that offer comfort and peace of mind. A recent study found that more than half of Asian travellers now prioritise quality experiences over budget considerations. Social media plays a role too, with aspirational content making premium travel feel more visible and achievable, shifting what people aspire to and how they choose to spend. At the same time, this desire for premium travel is trending younger. Based on our research, we’re seeing a growing number of Millennials and Gen Z consumers who are not only traveling more often but actively prioritising upgrades and better experiences as part of how they define value.
At the same time, travel is being embedded into how people think about money. In Singapore, seven in ten cardholders say they choose credit cards based on travel-related perks. Across Southeast Asia, younger consumers are shaping their financial behavior around travel goals, cutting back on everyday expenses, tracking rewards, and optimising spending through loyalty platforms.
This behavior is creating a ripple effect across industries. It’s not just travel companies that are trying to capture this demand. Financial institutions, telcos, e-commerce platforms, and lifestyle brands are all embedding travel benefits into their value propositions. Loyalty, in this context, is no longer just about retaining customers. It’s about building relevance and aspiration into everyday touchpoints.
Traditionally, travel loyalty has been built around the closed-loop concept. In this model, rewards can only be earned and redeemed within a single brand or platform, limiting flexibility and perceived value for customers. Despite the growing appetite among consumer businesses to engage their best customers with travel rewards, like miles, upgrades or access perks, the closed nature of these legacy systems has made it difficult for both large and small players to take advantage of the Traveller Economy’s growth.
Enter a new model of open loyalty.
Unlike closed systems, open loyalty is designed for interoperability and built around shared aspiration. It allows customers to earn flexible rewards through their everyday activity and redeem them across a broader network of partners, making travel more accessible, and rewards more meaningful.
These platforms are built around open ecosystems and interoperable rewards. Instead of siloed points systems, consumers can earn a flexible travel currency through everyday activities, like dining, shopping, transport, or even digital banking, and redeem those rewards for flights, hotel stays, or upgrades. For example, someone spending S$1,000 a month on routine expenses might earn enough in just three months for a short-haul flight to a destination like Bali or Bangkok. Even beyond earning caps, ongoing rewards accumulation keeps travel within reach and incentives continuously relevant.
This model doesn’t just reduce friction for businesses; it increases relevance for customers. By plugging into a shared ecosystem, brands can offer travel-linked rewards without having to build and manage loyalty infrastructure from scratch. And customers, in turn, gain more flexibility, clearer value, and greater motivation to engage.
The Traveller Economy is beginning to reshape how people in Asia live, spend, and prioritise. With the Asia-Pacific travel market projected to reach $1.4 trillion by 2030, the commercial upside is significant.
The question for businesses that want to acquire and retain customers isn’t whether to engage with the Traveller Economy, it’s how to do so meaningfully.
About the author: Joe Lu is the Co-founder and CEO of HeyMax
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