Payments Giants See Headwinds Affecting Travel in 2017
Photo Credit: Credit card companies don't seen a huge uptick in global business travel, but they're also not anticipating a major downslide. A train station in Malmö, Sweden, is pictured here. Flickr / Susanne Nilsson
Skift Take
Travel spending is stable globally. Nobody is really sure what 2017 will hold for leisure or business travel, however, given global instability and the high value of the U.S. dollar.
Given conflicting reports across the travel industry, it's hard to tell whether 2017 will end up as another global growth year for international travel or will represent a slowdown based on currency headwinds and the emergence of isolationist policies in North America and Europe.
On their fourth quarter earnings call, the world's biggest credit card and payments companies seemed to express trepidation about the state of global borders and travel. At the same time, they were at large hesitant to predict any major changes for their outlook, particularly with respect to a United States now run by President Trump.
"My normal approach to trade is that I continue to believe that the U.S. is way too large a marketplace for companies and busine
