Visa and Qashio Partner on B2B Travel Payments Solution | PYMNTS.com

Visa and spend management solution provider Qashio have partnered to launch a B2B travel payments solution in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, Europe and the United Kingdom.

Their launch of the Visa Commercial Choice Travel program in these areas will transform and digitize payments for online travel agencies and travel management companies, the firms said in a Monday (Jan. 6) press release.

“We recognize that the Travel & Tourism industry is key in the region, however the travel companies are underserved with strong technical payment solutions that work in their favor,” Qashio CEO and Co-founder Armin Moradi said in the release. “We are creating a one-stop platform that simplifies the corporate travel experience for our clients, allowing them to focus on what truly matters — growing their businesses.”

With this collaboration, travel companies will be able to obtain Qashio cards and transact in several currencies, including UAE dirhams (AED), Saudi riyals (SAR), U.S. dollars (USD), euros (EUR) and British pound sterling (GBP), according to the release.

In addition, because this solution is integrated with global travel management companies and their booking tools, travel companies will be able to digitize and automate their payments within the travel sector, seamlessly and securely, the release said.

“This partnership reflects our commitment to providing secure and seamless payment solutions that enable the digital transformation and improve efficiencies of travel and tourism companies,” Salima Gutieva, Visa’s vice president and country manager for UAE, said in the release.

While B2B payments between travel and tourism businesses and vendors are a fundamental part of the sector, the management and execution of these payments can be very complex, according to the PYMNTS Intelligence and Flywire collaboration, “Smart Receivables Playbook: Rethinking Payments Processing After the Pandemic: Travel and Tourism.”

The report found that 20% of travel and tourism businesses said B2B payouts are a very or extremely significant pain point, and another 43% said they are a somewhat significant pain point.

In an earlier collaboration, Qashio teamed up with embedded finance platform CredibleX in January 2024 to provide financing to businesses in the MENA region.