In Argentina, a high percentage of transactions are made in cash, and this occurs partly because a large sector of the population is not banked. However, in the last year we saw a growth in the digitization of operations through the implementation of virtual wallets that were arriving on the market to meet different needs.
In the travel and tourism sector, travel agencies are accustomed to paying their suppliers (airlines, hotels, cruises, etc.) with bank transfers, traditional credit cards and the IATA Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP). . By interacting with different countries, currencies and channels, they need to be effective and protect against fraud, not only to reduce demands on management time but also to minimize manual errors and transaction costs.
From Amadeus we generate a new alternative for these challenges: the virtual Wallet B2B Wallet Prepaid. It is a virtual payment method that works like a traditional credit card, except that the data is generated every time it is used, and that improves the security of each operation. In addition, as it can receive instant payments, it has many followers among the suppliers in the sector, and helps reduce additional costs such as credit card surcharges, bank transfers and exchange rates.
As part of the Amadeus solution, we chose WEX - the leading company in corporate payment solutions - for processing payments to domestic suppliers. After a great success in the Brazilian market, at Amadeus we continue to combine our knowledge of the travel industry with the WEX payment experience to offer an innovative tool now for the Argentine market and fully integrated into our platforms, thus seeking to offer a solution of more complete payments to travel agencies.
The Aero La Plata agency is an example of how this virtual wallet works in practice. This family-owned wholesale operator currently has a team of 120 people and is among the five agencies with the highest number of air tickets issued in Argentina. Being a low profitability business, the challenge they had was to make their payment processes more efficient. The implementation of Amadeus B2B Wallet brought savings in time, costs and greater control to prevent possible fraud.
Ariel Corti, Manager of Administration and Finance of Aero, assures that they are managing to gather several transfers in one, and in that way, reduce the cost that each payment carries. On the other hand, they can credit the funds immediately, which avoids any difficulty when it comes to meeting a provider.
Aero La Plata is an example, among others, that are adding to this cultural change, where prepaid virtual payment begins to replace billing, electronic transfers, debit cards, checks and cash advances.
Convinced that the digitalization of payments is part of the trends that will define the future of travel, we will continue to support the sector in the implementation of payment solutions that allow travel agencies to grow and renew themselves in terms of technology.