Visa Shows One Fifth of Purchases at 2018 FIFA World CupTM Use Contactless Technology
Visa (NYSE: V), the Official Payment Services Partner of FIFA, today released an analysis of foreign travellers’ spending during opening days of 2018 FIFA World Cup™. The results found that in the 11 Russian host cities of the tournament, approximately one in every five (17 percent) purchases with Visa used contactless payment technology, including smartphones, bracelets and rings.
In the stadiums themselves, the share of contactless payments was 54 percent, inclusive of purchases made by fans from Russia and abroad.
On average, across the 11 host cities, Visa cardholders spent 3,575 rubles (approximately $56.65)1 per transaction, with fans from the United States spending the most – followed by China and Mexico in second and third, respectively.
“Many of the international visitors attending this summer’s tournament have never been to Russia before and we’re excited to be providing them with the ultimate tournament experience, powered by the speed and ease of Visa’s digital payments, which are increasingly happening on contactless cards, devices and wearables,” said Ekaterina Petelina, country manager, Visa Russia. “In the stadiums particularly, fans are using contactless payment technology to speed through the lines and quickly get back to the action on the pitch.”
Overall, a majority of purchases in host cities fell into the lodging, fashion and restaurant categories.
Additionally, Russian fans made twice the amount of transactions for food and drinks compared to non-Russian fans, however, the average per-transaction amount for non-Russian attendees was 1.5 times higher than Russian purchases in those categories.
– business.financialpost.com –