Visa cardholders increase spending in Brazil by 73 percent year over year; Visitors from the United States, the United Kingdom and France Account for Greatest Economic Impact

SAO PAULO. - Thursday, June 19th 2014 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE) Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), the leader in global payments, today released the Visa Everywhere Travel Report for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, which analyzes travel data and cross border spend on all Visa products, including credit, debit and prepaid payment cards.

During the four-day opening period of the tournament (June 12 - June 15, 2014), Visa found that international visitors spent more than US$27M on their Visa accounts. This represents a 73 percent increase over the same four-day period in 2013, and 47 percent more when compared to the opening four-day period of the Confederations Cup (June 15 –June, 18 2013), where travelers spent nearly US$18.5M.

Visitors from the United States, followed by the United Kingdom, France, and Mexico represented the largest overall tourist spend in Brazil during the four-day period. On Saturday, June 14, 2014 alone international travelers to Brazil spent more than US$10.7M using Visa products. This was the highest tourist spend day in the country in 2014.

“These numbers reflect the significant impact that mega sporting events like the World Cup can have in boosting local commerce in host market economies,” said Ruben Osta, Visa Inc. country manager, Brazil. “This positive trend aligns with Brazil’s expectation that more than 600,000 international travelers may visit the country during this event -- ultimately boosting the country’s economy.”

Travelers from ten countries made up 65 percent of the total spend in Brazil, with four countries -- Australia (+675%), Colombia (+418%), Mexico (+204%) and United Kingdom (+101%) --showing triple-digit increases compared to spend during the same four-day period in 2013.

Top 10 Country Contributors to Spend in Brazil on Visa Accounts: (June 12-June 15)
 

Ranking  
                

Country/Territory  
                

Total Spend (USD)  
                

Year over Year Growth  

1
                

United States
                

$6.6M
                

55.5%

2
                

United Kingdom
                

$2.3M
                

101.3%

3
                

France
                

$1.7M
                

36.8%

4
                

Mexico
                

$1.3M
                

204.2%

5
                

Angola
                

$1.2M
                

78.6%

6
                

Argentina
                

$1.2M
                

32%

7
                

Germany
                

$1M
                

95.6%

8
                

Australia
                

$969K
                

675.2%

9
                

Colombia
                

$858K
                

418%

10
                

Spain
                

$689K
                

7.7%

Visitors spent the most in categories such as lodging and accommodation, which accounted for US$5M, and in local restaurants at US$2.5M.

“As a proud sponsor of FIFA and the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, Visa has partnered with clients, merchants and financial institutions in Brazil to provide a safe, convenient and reliable payment infrastructure for international visitors to enjoy their time in Brazil and cheer on their team and country,” said Osta. “As a partner for tourism and economic growth, Visa is making it easier for everyone, everywhere, to be a part of the FIFA World Cup - whether it’s at any of the 12 FIFA World Cup venues or by using one of the 1.4 million contactless payment terminals available throughout the country.”

Visa has worked with partner organizations and service providers in Brazil to implement and manage the entire payment system infrastructure throughout all FIFA World Cup venues, including deployment of more than 3,000 Visa contactless-enabled point-of-sale terminals and 75 ATMs.

For more information on Visa travel products and tips for international travel payment, visit www.visa.com/fifamediakit.com.

About Visa Inc.:

Visa is a global digital payments network that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments. We operate one of the world’s most advanced processing networks - VisaNet - that is capable of handling more than 47,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and assured payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa’s innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. For more information, visit corporate.visa.com.

About VisaVue® Travel Data

Visa cardholder spend data cited is based upon VisaVue Travel data. Visa introduced the VisaVue Travel tourism reporting product to U.S. tourism organizations in 2008 and has continued to provide reports to the industry on a variety of popular tourist destinations every year. For more information on VisaVue Travel and Visa's products focused on the tourism industry, please contact the VisaVue Product Office at VisaVueTravel@Visa.com.

Data included in the “Everywhere Travel Report” includes spending on Visa-branded payment cards by international visitors from key source countries during the calendar year 2014 (June 12 – 15, 2014).

Contacts

Visa, Inc.

Andy Gerlt, +55 21 99498-0594

agerlt@visa.com

Melissa Cassar, +55 21 99473-3179

mcassar@visa.com

Visa do Brasil

Sabrina Sciama, +55 11 99930-0170

ssciama@visa.com

Permalink: http://me-newswire.net/news/11372/en