Millennial tourists keen to use mobile payments on holidays

The research, carried out by the DCC Forum, has also found that the use of mobile payments comes at a time when younger travelers are increasingly keen to cut out holiday cash, with 35% saying that they keep the amount they bring with them to an absolute minimum.

Of those surveyed, only two thirds (63%) said that they bought any foreign currency before heading off on their holidays and just over half (51%) worried about carrying large quantities of cash with them. The research also found that younger travelers had a range of reasons for not wanting to bring foreign currency in cash on their holidays: 1 in 4 said that carrying large quantities of cash made them feel more likely to be a victim of a crime, while just under half (45%) worry about leaving cash in their hotel rooms for fear of theft.

Interestingly, 1 in 5 (21%) Brits aged 18 to 34 did not make any payments in cash at all on their holidays over the last 12 months. While mobile payments are growing in popularity with younger travelers (5%), they are yet to catch up with contactless payments as 1 in 10 younger travelers made a contactless payment on their holiday this year. Just under 20% used some sort of pre-paid foreign currency card.

Carrying out its research in partnership with CensusWide, the DCC Forum found that just over half of 18 to 34s still choose to make payments with their credit or debit card while overseas, but only 29% checked the fees that their bank or card provider would charge them for using their card abroad.

All figures are from CensusWide. Total sample size was 1.199 adults who said they had travelled abroad on holiday at least once in 2015. Fieldwork was undertaken between the 28th July and 1st August 2016. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK holidaymakers (aged 16+).