The South African economy has seen an initial
boost in visitor spending related to the 2010 FIFA World Cup,
according to new cardholder spending data from Visa.
During the period leading up to the kickoff of
the FIFA World Cup and the first week of tournament matches (1
June through 20 June), spending by international visitors in South
Africa on Visa-branded payment cards exceeded US$128 million (R974
million), up 54% from US$83 million (R629 million) during the same
period in 2009.
The number of transactions from 1 June
through 20 June was 900,000 (45,000 per day on average), up 60% from nearly 600,000 (30,000 a day on average) during the
same 20 days in 2009.
The money spent by international visitors
on their Visa credit, debit and prepaid cards on the first ten
days of the FIFA World Cup (Friday, June 11 through Sunday, June
20) alone showed an increase of 81% over the same period in
2009.
Visa spending data indicates that the United Kingdom,
followed by the United States, Australia, France and Brazil have
been the strongest contributors to tourism spending to date. These
five countries alone accounted for 51% of spending.
Over 90% of spending was in typical leisure and business travel
categories - accommodation, restaurants, retail, auto rental and
air travel.
"You can see it for yourself on the streets and in
the shopping malls of the nine host cities and now we’re seeing
the real-time data. The international visitors have come and they
are spending with their Visa cards. The spending is spread right
across the 120,000 merchants that accept Visa in South Africa,"
said Michael Lynch, Global Head of Sponsorship Management at Visa
Inc. "The sponsorship of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa
is working extremely well for Visa with promotional activities
occurring in close to 100 countries, involving 500 financial
institutions and merchants. We also have approximately 4,000
competition prize winners coming to South Africa for the
tournament and the first waves of those have had a great
experience."
According to the 2010 South
Africa Tourism Outlook report recently released by Visa,
international travelers using their Visa payment cards spent over
US$1.79 billion while visiting South Africa during 2009 and $566
million during the first quarter of 2010.
Visa is one of six
global FIFA partners with exclusive global category rights through
2014, and is the exclusive card for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In
recognition of Visa’s sponsorship of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South
Africa, Visa credit, debit and prepaid cards are the only payment
cards accepted, along with cash, at all FIFA stadiums and the
Onsite Stadium Merchandise Booths.
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