Related Articles
Top Stories
Feb 13 2012 12:15
Miner Xstrata says it has brought forward maintenance on two furnaces to assist Eskom to save power.
Feb 13 2012 10:43
Although jobs were created, the economy is still 420 000 jobs short of the peak employment level before the 2009 global financial crisis, says Adcorp.
Feb 13 2012 07:58
Greek lawmakers have approved a new round of drastic austerity measures after a long day of street battles between police and protesters left dozens injured.
Johannesburg - Payment card group Visa said on Wednesday spending by its foreign clients visiting South Africa in the lead-up and during the 2010 FIFA World Cup totalled R2.4bn.
The figure excludes spending by the holders of other payment card groups like Mastercard and American Express.
Visa said the spending by its clients represented an increase of 70% compared to the same period in 2009.
About 2.2 million payments were made from June 1 to July 11 - 55 000 per day on average.
Visa highlighted that the United States (19.05%), followed by the United Kingdom (19.03%), Australia (4.7%), Brazil (4.2%) and France (3.4%), were the strongest contributors to visitor spending to date.
These five countries alone accounted for 51% of spending, the group said.
Over 90% of spending was in typical leisure and business travel categories - accommodation, restaurants, retail, auto rental and air travel, Visa said.
The biggest spenders from the African continent were Mozambique (R61m), Botswana (R56m) and Angola (R49m).
"The World Cup has been an outstanding success for football and for South Africa," said Visa chief marketing officer Antonio Lucio. "It has definitely been a spectacular success for the local economy and businesses. The foreign visitors came in force and spent in force."
- I-Net Bridge