Over the past twenty years, I’ve had the opportunity to observe retail and destinations from many different perspectives — from sales and customer understanding to loyalty systems, data analytics, and the development of platforms for shopping centers and destinations across Europe. And if there is one thing I’ve learned during that time, it is that industries rarely miss their biggest opportunities because they don’t know they exist. More often, they miss them because they keep looking at them too narrowly for too long.

Today, I see this very clearly with gift cards.

From Shopping Centers to Destinations

Shopping centers are no longer just places for shopping. They are increasingly becoming destinations — spaces for socializing, gastronomy, events, entertainment, and experiences, where people are no longer searching only for products, but for a feeling that they belong somewhere and genuinely enjoy spending time there.

And if a shopping center is becoming a destination, then a gift card can no longer remain just a payment or prepaid product.

It has to become part of the experience.

A large part of the market still relies on Visa and Mastercard models, which are fundamentally payment solutions. Their advantage is broad usability, but they were never designed to actively build relationships between destinations and visitors.

True closed-loop systems enable something far more valuable — they allow destinations to understand visitors, their behavior, preferences, and the way they experience a place.

And in my opinion, this is where the industry is making one of its biggest strategic mistakes.

A Gift as the Beginning of a Relationship

A gift card is one of the very few products where an existing visitor actively brings in a new one.

When someone gives a gift card from a destination, they are not simply giving money. They are giving their experience, their emotional connection to a place, and their level of trust in that destination.

A few years ago, I gave my daughter a gift card with a photo of her from the seaside printed on it. The value on the card is long gone, but she still keeps it today.

Not because of the money.

But because of the feeling.

And that, in my opinion, is the biggest difference between a traditional payment solution and a modern gift card ecosystem.

Today’s visitors are no longer looking only for products or discounts. They are looking for attention, relevance, and the feeling that someone understands them.

That is why I believe the future of gift cards is not about becoming even more similar to banking products.

The future lies in becoming more connected to emotion, hospitality, personalization, and relationship marketing.

The B2B segment is especially interesting here, yet many destinations still underestimate it. A personalized gift card with a company’s visual identity, a meaningful image, a personal message, or even video content is no longer just a payment method.

It becomes attention.

It becomes emotion.

It becomes memory.

And this is exactly why destinations should think much more carefully about the tools they use for gifting.

If a place is transforming into a destination and an experience-driven environment, then its gift card platform must evolve as well.

Not only as a financial tool.

But as a marketing and relationship platform capable of creating new visitors, new loyalty members, and new ambassadors for the destination.

Because the future will not belong to destinations with the most screens, the biggest campaigns, or the largest discounts.

It will belong to those who understand people best.

And people remember feelings more than anything else.