76% of Spanish companies trust that international tourism will have a positive effect on their activity during the next year, according to the study "Amex European Business Barometer", prepared from a survey in five European markets, including Spain.
In a scenario of growing competition, companies are rethinking how they relate to their customers and are giving more weight to user experience, international expansion, and digitalization as essential axes for continued growth.
In this context, payments are ceasing to be a purely operational task to become a strategic piece within the customer experience. In fact, 82% of Spanish companies maintain that optimizing the payment experience translates into higher conversion, thus reinforcing its function as a key lever of business performance.
This greater prominence of payments is leading companies to review their internal flows and incorporate more agile and adaptable solutions. However, this transformation also presents challenges, especially in the area of fraud prevention, which continues to be the main concern for 37% of companies regarding their payment setup, along with the obligation to adapt to consumers' preferred payment methods.
International tourism drives business evolution
Tourism from abroad continues to act as a determining element of change for the business fabric in Spain. 76% of companies anticipate that visitor spending will impact their business in the next 12 months.
Faced with this scenario, companies are adjusting their value proposition to cater to an increasingly international clientele. Among the main measures are the improvement of digital experiences, the expansion of acceptance of international payment methods, and the reinforcement of customer service for clients from other countries.
In parallel, nearly 30% of companies plan to allocate specific investments to attract international clients or tourists, thus consolidating the role of tourism as a fundamental engine of growth in the Spanish market.
Digitalization and AI: response to new demands
The incorporation of new technologies continues to gain weight in the strategic planning of companies. In the last 12 months, 47% of Spanish companies have already implemented generative artificial intelligence solutions, although with notable differences depending on the size of the organization.
While large corporations lead the adoption and integration of these tools in the customer experience, SMEs (which account for more than 99% of the business fabric in Spain) are advancing more gradually, which may restrict their ability to make the most of these opportunities.