Rising Rankings of Cards Offering Overseas Travel Benefits
Continued Interest in Cards for Increasing Utility Bills
[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] Card users are showing increased interest in various utility bill discount benefits and cards related to overseas travel. This is interpreted as a response to the recovery of full-scale overseas travel demand and the need to quickly adapt to the rising costs of various living utility bills such as city gas and electricity charges.
On the 1st, the domestic credit card platform 'Card Gorilla' revealed that overseas travel-related cards ranked high in the credit card rankings based on the number of product views and application conversions from the 1st to the 30th of last month. A representative example is Woori Card's 'DA@Card Eojeongseok,' which rose 7 places from the previous month to take 2nd place. This product's main benefits include airline ticket discounts and free airport lounge access. Samsung Card's 'Samsung Card & Mileage Platinum,' also targeting overseas travel demand, ranked 7th. This product offers airport lounge access and accumulates airline mileage based on spending.
As overseas travel demand surges, interest in related benefit cards is growing. In fact, overseas travel demand is recovering rapidly. According to WiseApp, a mobile application analytics firm, the total estimated payment amount in December last year for Booking Holdings (Agoda, Booking.com), Airbnb, Trip.com, Expedia (Hotels.com, Expedia), MyRealTrip, and KKday reached 677.2 billion KRW, marking an all-time high. This greatly exceeds the 428.4 billion KRW recorded in December 2019, before the COVID-19 outbreak.
Utility bill saving cards also continue to maintain top rankings. Lotte Card's 'Roca365,' which offers discounts on apartment management fees, city gas charges, and electricity bills, has held the top spot since first reaching number one in December last year. Similar benefit cards such as Shinhan Card's 'Mr. Life' (4th place) and Hana Card's '1Q Daily Plus' (6th place) are also positioned in the top ranks. Given the recent cold wave causing 'heating bill shocks' and ongoing fee increases, users are quickly seeking out benefits.
According to the Korea Real Estate Board's Apartment Management Information System, the average heating cost per square meter (㎡) for apartments nationwide (based on district heating and central heating) was 514 KRW in December last year, up 53.9% compared to the same month the previous year. Electricity charges also rose 16.0% during the same period. The government plans to raise them by about 9.5% additionally in the first quarter of this year. Most of the 17 metropolitan cities and provinces nationwide have either decided or are seriously considering fare increases for public transportation such as buses, subways, and taxis this year.
An official from the card industry said, "Interest in utility bill discount benefits and overseas travel-related cards is growing more and more since the end of last year," adding, "It is necessary to carefully check the various conditions under which benefits can be received and choose according to one's consumption scale and habits."
On the 20th, ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, Incheon International Airport Terminal 1 was crowded with travelers preparing to depart. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@
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