Tourism & the experience economy
Payments built for businesses that sell a day out, not a product
Tourist and experience businesses have a payments problem that ordinary retail doesn't: income arrives in a few intense weeks, trading happens away from a counter, and the network is never where you need it. These pages set out the specific problems by sector and how Teya solves each one.
The four problems every experience business shares
Different sectors, same underlying pressures — and the same four Teya features that take the pressure off.
Money arrives in bursts, costs don't
Teya settles card takings the next working day as standard, and qualifying businesses can choose everyday or Instant Settlement options, with conditions and in some cases an extra charge.
You trade away from a counter
Teya Pro is an all-in-one terminal with 14+ hours of battery and 4G, and Tap to Pay turns a staff phone into another till.
Peak days create queues
Teya Pro is built for quick contactless, chip & PIN and mobile wallet payments.
Seasonality makes finance hard
Business Genie Payments arranges business funding up to £1,000,000, subject to eligibility and approval — for pre-season stock, staff and kit.
Sector guides
Each guide covers the trading realities of that sector, the payment problems they cause and exactly which Teya features fix them.
Seaside & coastal tourist towns
Coastal trading is brutally seasonal. Six weeks of school holidays can carry the rest of the year, and every minute of queue on a hot Saturday is money that walks to the next kiosk. Payments have to be quick, portable and reliable in places where the Wi-Fi is an afterthought.
Read guideVisitor attractions & heritage sites
Attractions take money in several places at once — admissions, gift shop, café, guided tours, donations — often across a large site with old buildings and thick walls. The payments setup has to cover all of it without a comms cabinet in every wing.
Read guideFestivals, markets & events
Event trading is the hardest environment in retail payments: a field, thousands of people on the same masts, a few hours to take a year's worth of margin, and no second chance if the terminal drops out.
Read guideHotels, B&Bs & holiday lets
Accommodation businesses take deposits weeks ahead, balances on arrival, extras during the stay and payments at the bar or restaurant. It usually ends up spread across three or four providers with three or four sets of fees.
Read guideFood, drink & tasting experiences
Tastings, supper clubs, cookery classes and brewery tours are experience businesses first and hospitality second. They sell tickets in advance, upsell on the day, and often trade in a room with no fixed till.
Read guideTours, activities & outdoor operators
Guides, skippers, instructors and drivers take payment away from any counter — on a boat, on a hillside, at a trailhead. Losing a walk-up sale because you cannot take a card is pure lost margin.
Read guideCity centre bars, cafés & restaurants
Urban hospitality lives on speed of service, tips and Friday night volume. A slow terminal at the bar costs more than any monthly fee ever will.
Read guideTourist retail & gift shops
Gift shops, galleries and souvenir retail trade on impulse. Average transaction values are small, footfall is concentrated in a few hours, and international cards are common.
Read guideDestination guides
How 43 of the UK's busiest tourist towns and cities actually trade — season, signal, visitor mix — and the Teya setup that copes with each.
Hover or tab a marker to reveal its name — filter to show several names at once
Pick your destination
Hover or tab through the markers to see how each visitor town trades, then open its guide for the full setup — season, connectivity, settlement and card mix.
Get pricing built around your season
Tell us how you trade and we'll call you back with a straight answer.