Binance Pay, a cryptocurrency payment app, and Travala, a crypto-native travel booking service, have shared data that suggests crypto is becoming a mainstream payment method when it comes to travel bookings, as per the reports shared with Finbold on Friday, May 23.
The rise of crypto in the travel industry
Crypto payments have been a thing in tourism since 2018, but initially, they did not gain much traction.
Five years later, however, in 2023, Travala is seeing $45 million in travel bookings paid with crypto.
In 2024, the number is $80 million, an impressive 78% year-on-year increase from 2023.
As of May 2025, almost 80% of bookings on the platform are paid in digital assets, and the total gross revenue has gone up to $103.3 million.
Enabling crypto transactions on Travala is Binance Pay, which has become the leading external payment method on the platform, overtaking traditional payment cards and services like Apple Pay.
Crypto traveler demographics
In addition to increasing crypto payment adoption, Travala reports several other pieces of information that suggest crypto travelers are becoming a recognizable demographic.
For example, crypto holders tend to spend more on their bookings — an average of $1,211 per booking compared to $469 for fiat users.
In addition, they are more likely to plan holidays for the immediate future, booking trips just 11 days ahead on average.
What’s more, they also stay longer and are more likely to return to the same destination, as 57% higher repeat booking rates suggest.
As for the more popular destinations, in 2024, they included cities like Dubai, Bangkok, London, Tokyo, and Paris, all urban locations with strong digital infrastructure and crypto appeal.
Digital nomad hubs such as Lisbon, Barcelona, and Mexico City also continue to thrive as popular crypto-travel destinations.
