The global gift card market was worth roughly $1.12 trillion in 2025 and is on track to reach $2.74 trillion by 2035, growing at about 9.3% a year. A market that roughly doubles inside a decade is one of the larger growth stories in consumer commerce, and most hotel operators could not name the figure. That gap between the size of the opportunity and awareness of it is the whole point of this article.
Hospitality has an unusual claim on that number. A hotel does not sell a generic balance to load onto a phone. It sells a spa afternoon, a tasting menu, a weekend worth remembering, the kind of gift that carries far more weight than a plastic card. The category is compounding regardless of what any single property does. The revenue goes to the operators who build a place to sell into it. Here is what the numbers say, and what a hotel should do about them over the next five years.
A $1.12 Trillion Market Is Set to Roughly Double by 2035
Start with the scale. At around 9.3% annual growth, the global gift card market is compounding across very different currencies, cultures and buying habits, adding tens of billions of dollars in value every year. Growth like that builds on itself, which is why the market of 2035 lands close to twice the size of today's.
Numbers this large change the question a revenue manager should be asking. The category is not waiting for permission to grow. A hotel's only real decision is whether to build a product that captures a slice of it or watch the value flow to retailers and platforms that already have. A market heading past $2.7 trillion rewards the operators who show up with something to sell.
In the UK, Digital Cards Have Already Passed Physical
The clearest signal of where every market is heading comes from the UK, where digital gift cards overtook physical for the first time in the first half of 2024, taking 52% of sales. In 2019 digital sat near 30%. That is a preference reordering itself in real time, driven by instant delivery, easy personalisation and the simple fact that buyers live on their phones.
The direction matters more than the single figure. Physical cards still lead in many markets today, including at the global level, but the momentum runs one way everywhere. A hotel building a gifting programme should build it digital-first, because the buyer who is coming next expects to choose, pay and send a gift in minutes without leaving a messaging app.
Asia-Pacific Is Growing Faster Than North America or Europe
The global 9.3% hides a wide spread, and Asia-Pacific sits at the top of it. The region's gift card market is projected to pass $1.23 trillion by 2030 at roughly 18% a year, close to double the global pace. Near-universal smartphone use, a fast-expanding middle class and a move towards spending on experiences are pushing gift spend up and towards premium, digital products.
For a hotel in Singapore, Bangkok or Sydney, that regional figure is the one to act on. It says the demand is not a forecast for later; it is forming now, on the devices buyers already hold. APAC arrived at this point without a long cash-card era to unwind, which is exactly why the region can lead with experience gifting rather than grow into it slowly.
Hospitality Punches Below Its Weight in the Gift Card Numbers
Here is the odd part. Hotels sell some of the most desirable gifts on earth, and they capture a modest share of a market this size. Most gift card volume still runs through retail and grocery, where the programmes are mature and the products are easy to buy. Hospitality's offer is more appealing and less available, which is a strange place for such a strong category to sit.
The demand is plainly there when someone makes it easy to buy. In the UK, the leisure sector grew like-for-like sales 15.5% in the first half of 2024, outpacing retail for the sixth period running. Buyers want to gift experiences. What has been missing is the supply, and supply is something a hotel controls.
The Hotels That Build a Gifting Capability Now Inherit the Advantage
Read across the five years these numbers describe and the strategic call is straightforward. A gifting programme is an owned sales channel that does not pay commission to a third party, a source of cash collected before any cost is incurred, and a foothold in a corporate gifting market that renews every year. Properties that build one now compound that advantage while the category is still expanding fastest.
The tools exist to start without a long project. A platform like Ryse turns a hotel's existing experiences into buyable, sendable gifts in the digital format the market is moving to. Waiting for the numbers to prove themselves means buying that ground back later, at a premium, from the operators who moved while it was open. A trillion-dollar market pays the early.
Common Questions About the Gift Card Market and Hospitality
How big is the global gift card market?
The global gift card market was valued at roughly $1.12 trillion in 2025 and is projected to reach $2.74 trillion by 2035, growing at about 9.3% a year. That makes it one of the larger consumer-spending categories in global commerce, and it is set to roughly double over the decade.
Is Asia-Pacific growing faster than other gift card markets?
Yes. The Asia-Pacific gift card market is projected to pass $1.23 trillion by 2030 at roughly 18% a year, well ahead of the global rate near 9.3%. It is the fastest-growing major region for gift cards, which is why platforms and properties are building for it now.
Why is hospitality underrepresented in gift card spending?
Most gift card volume still runs through retail and grocery, where programmes are mature and easy to buy. Hotels sell some of the most desirable gifts anywhere, a spa day, a celebration stay, a tasting menu, yet many have never packaged them for gifting. The appeal is high and the infrastructure is thin, so hospitality captures less of the market than its products deserve.
If you want your hotel on the right side of these numbers, see how Ryse Cloud turns your experiences into a gifting revenue line.
