With the increase in demand for overseas travel, the competition among credit card companies developing travel cards has escalated into a benefits war by country. Each card company analyzes its card usage data to determine which countries can create the most synergy with their products and offers benefits in the sectors that customers use most frequently in those countries.
According to the card industry on the 6th, Visa is conducting the 'KB Visa Happy Island' promotion in collaboration with KB Kookmin Card and the Hawaii Tourism Authority for customers planning to travel to Hawaii until July 18. A 30% discount is offered when booking airline tickets to Hawaii through Trip.com, and Hawaiian Airlines discounted tickets are also available. In addition, a free night at popular hotels and financial support for island tours in Hawaii are provided.
Last month, Shinhan Card launched the 'Shinhan Card SOL Travel J Check' card in collaboration with Shinhan Bank, optimized for travel to Japan. This card maintains the overseas specialized services of the existing Shinhan Card's SOL Travel Check Card while adding travel services for Japan. Notably, it offers a 50% discount at Don Quijote, a comprehensive discount store popular among Korean tourists, and at Starbucks in Japan, as well as discounts at convenience stores.
Additionally, NongHyup Card expanded its travel benefits from Nha Trang, Vietnam, where it only operated in January, to other popular tourist areas in Vietnam such as Phu Quoc, Da Nang, and Hoi An starting last month. Customers traveling to Vietnam using NongHyup Card can utilize the fast track service for two people for free upon entry, and free local airport pickup and drop-off services are also provided. Furthermore, menu coupons for popular restaurants are available.
Travel cards are recently considered essential for overseas travel. Notably, Hana Card, which pioneered the market, still firmly holds the number one market share. According to the Korea Credit Finance Association, the cumulative amount of personal overseas debit and check card usage by eight major credit card companies (Lotte, BC, Samsung, Shinhan, Woori, Hana, Hyundai, KB Kookmin Card) reached 2.463 trillion won until April this year, marking a 39.9% increase compared to the same period last year. Among them, Hana Card's usage accounted for 44.9% (91.92 billion won), making it the top.
However, the challenges from latecomers seeking to catch up with Hana Card are intensifying. Cards focused on country-specific benefits are part of a strategy to expand the market share of travel cards. Visa included the analysis results of payment data as a background for this promotional planning. According to Visa's payment data, Hawaii ranked as the second most popular region in the United States for the number of card transactions made with cards issued in Korea, and it noted that it prepared the promotion based on the identified tourist radius of visitors within Hawaii.
Shinhan Card also explained that since its launch in February last year, among the 184 countries where the SOL Travel Check Card has been used, Japan was the most frequently used country. In fact, according to the 2025 usage data, customers using the card in Japan accounted for 44%. The most utilized merchants in Japan were Seven-Eleven, FamilyMart, Lawson, Don Quijote, and Universal Studios Japan, and it added that the promotion card was designed to reflect this analysis to provide tangible benefits.
However, although travel cards have enhanced customer convenience benefits, the impact on the revenue of credit card companies is not significant. Nevertheless, industry sources explained that they cannot ignore travel cards amid stagnant growth in the domestic card payment market due to a consumption slump and fee reductions, especially with the increase in overseas travelers.
A source from the card industry stated, "When looking at the benefits of travel cards, such as no fees or paybacks, there are instances where they are not beneficial for profitability. However, through these offerings, new customers are drawn to credit card companies, which can lead to additional effects like enticing them into other products, so the competition for travel cards will continue in the future."