Visa cardholder spending in South Africa increased by 34% during the first quarter ended March 31, to $566 million from $423 million during the same period a year ago, according to an annual tourism outlook report Visa Inc. released this week.
Those numbers should grow as the 2010 FIFA World Cup continues this month and into July. Visa is a sponsor of the worldwide soccer event being held in South Africa, and fans may use only Visa cards or cash to pay for goods and services at the World Cup
VisaVue travel data, Visa’s mechanism for analyzing tourism spending patterns worldwide, indicates that South Africa has weathered the difficult global economy better than most countries, many of which have tallied double-digit drops in inbound tourism spending. Visa card spending in South Africa dropped by just 2.7%, to $1.79 billion in 2009 from $1.84 billion the previous year.
As host country to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, South Africa stands to gain substantial increases in tourism spending, according to Visa. The country expects to attract more than 370,000 international visitors to the event. South Africa anticipates the month-long tournament, which started June 11, to bring in 93 billion rand (US$12.2 billion or 9.9 billion euros) to the South African economy.
Tourists in South Africa during the past year spent the most with their Visa cards on retail purchases, which is consistent with tourism spending in general over the past three years, Visa says. Travel-related purchases, such as for lodging, airlines and travel agencies, accounted for the second-largest share of tourism spending in that country.
Visa reports first-quarter South African tourism spending growth in several merchant segments. Visa cardholder spending at restaurants increased by 47.1%, to $27.8 million from $18.9 million; lodging, by 40.1%, to $77.9 million from $55.3 million; general retail, buy 31.7%, to $291.8 million from $221.5 million; auto rentals, by 29.1%, to $19.1 million from $14.8 million; and airline purchases, by 19% to $28.2 million from $23.7 million.
