Visa Inc, the leader in global payments, has released the Visa Everywhere Travel Report for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, which analyses 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 12-15), Visa found that GCC visitors spent more than $500,000 on their Visa accounts, with the UAE and Saudi Arabia making up 70 per cent of the total. This represents a five-fold increase over the same four-day period in 2013, and 47 per cent more when compared to the opening four-day period of the Confederations Cup (June 15-18, 2013).
The global attraction of the FIFA World Cup — and growing confidence and understanding of the convenience of electronic payment platforms — has combined to see the enormous increase in card usage from the GCC region. The GCC spending was part of a total spending of $27m from global visitors to Brazil during the four-day opening period of the tournament.
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 June 14 alone international travellers to Brazil spent more than $10.7 million using Visa products. This was the highest tourist spend day in the country in 2014.
