“Consumers in Southeast Asia are also demonstrating a strong preference for digital payments, with close to 70 per cent expecting their usage of cashless payment methods to increase over the next 12 months, according to Visa’s Consumer Payment Attitudes study,” notes a press release issued by the Singapore-based startup. Malaysia and the Philippines have been chosen due to their “massive untapped potential”. Outbound travel expenditure in these countries is seen to reach US$12.4 billion and US$12 billion respectively. They are also two of the fastest-growing Southeast Asian countries in terms of mobile payment adoption, with adoption rates from 2018 to 2019 rising from 17% to 40% and 14% to 45% respectively. Says YouTrip’s Regional General Manager Kelvin Lam, ““In a short span of two years, we have established YouTrip as a leading multi-currency wallet in both Singapore and Thailand. With our strong foundation, we look forward to combining our market-winning expertise along with Visa’s payment innovations to the rest of Southeast Asia.”