Brazilian, Mexican and Colombian travelers are booking trips to the United States in growing numbers. The agencies winning that demand aren't necessarily cheaper — they're easier to pay.
The opportunity
A rising middle class, more direct flights, and strong demand for US destinations mean more outbound LatAm travelers every season. For US-based agencies and DMCs, that's a high-intent audience actively searching to book.
The conversion gap
The traffic arrives, but the checkout loses it. A US agency that only accepts US cards asks a São Paulo traveler to pay in a way that often gets declined or carries heavy FX fees — so the booking stalls at the most important step.
You can rank for the trip and still lose the sale at the payment screen if the traveler can't pay the way they always do.
The playbook
- Accept local methods — PIX, PSE, CLABE, Nequi — so travelers pay the way they trust.
- Show prices in their currency, then settle to your US account in USD.
- Confirm instantly, removing the anxious "did it go through?" moment.
Key takeaways
- The demand is already there; the bottleneck is the payment method.
- Collect locally, settle in USD — no foreign entity required.
- A localized checkout is the cheapest growth lever you have.
Operating it
You don't need a Brazilian or Mexican entity, and you don't change your booking system. A payments layer adds local methods at checkout and settles to your existing US account — so growth doesn't add operational drag.