From 1 October, Australian businesses will need to adjust to an important change in the way card payment costs are handled. Following the Reserve Bank of Australia’s review of merchant card payment costs and surcharging, the major card networks are introducing “no surcharge” rules for card payments. In practical terms, businesses that accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Eftpos prepaid, debit payments will no longer be able to add a separate card surcharge for those payment types.
For tourism operators, this should not be seen as a setback. It is better understood as a pricing and presentation change. The cost of accepting card payments does not disappear, but it should now be treated like other normal costs of sale and built into the advertised price of your accommodation, tour, attraction, event or experience.
That is a healthy shift for online tourism. I have been arguing for some time that travellers increasingly expect simple, upfront pricing. They want to search, compare, book and pay without unexpected add-ons at checkout. Removing the separate card surcharge helps create a cleaner customer experience and can support greater booking confidence and hence better conversion.
Payment gateways are now an essential part of online tourism commerce. If you want to take direct bookings through your own website, a destination website, a booking platform, a reseller channel or a platform like TXA, you need a secure way to accept online payments. Payment gateways help process card transactions, support booking confirmation, enable refunds where required, provide transaction records and connect the payment step to the broader booking journey.
In other words, they are not just an administrative cost. They are part of the infrastructure that allows your business to sell online.
For tourism operators, the practical question is no longer “can I pass on the surcharge?” It is “have I priced my product properly for online sale?”
Every operator should understand their real cost of sale (Amy, link to earlier blog articles). That may include merchant service fees, payment gateway fees, booking system costs, channel commissions, distribution fees, marketing costs, refunds, chargebacks, staff administration time and customer service. These costs vary depending on your systems, channels and business model, but they all form part of the commercial reality of making a sale (aka booking).
I suggest you review your pricing now. Rather than adding a visible surcharge at the end of the transaction, build your expected payment costs into your advertised rates, packages and product pricing. That might mean a small adjustment to your room rate, tour price or experience fee. It might also mean reviewing your margins across different channels. You’ll probably find that direct bookings deliver the best net return.
The ACCC has also made clear that businesses can continue to recover the cost of accepting card payments by incorporating those costs into their overall pricing, provided they do not mislead customers about prices or the reason for any increase. Businesses should also update customer-facing materials, websites, booking flows, signage and payment systems so they no longer describe a card surcharge where one can no longer be charged.
The RBA has indicated that greater fee transparency is driving this reform package.
For tourism, the bigger opportunity is to keep direct and connected online bookings simple. TXA’s role is to help tourism suppliers make live product, pricing and availability bookable across more channels without unnecessary manual management. Clear pricing, secure payment and connected distribution all support that outcome.
The message for operators is straightforward. Card payment costs are a normal cost of doing business online securely. Treat them like any other cost of sale, price accordingly, and use the change as an opportunity to present customers with a simpler, more transparent booking experience.
