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Johannesburg - SA's
economy has seen an initial boost in visitor spending related
to the 2010 World Cup.
This is according to new cardholder spending data from payment card
company Visa released on Wednesday.
During the period leading up to the kickoff of the tournament and
the first week of tournament matches (June 1 to June 20), spending
by international visitors in South Africa on Visa-branded cards
exceeded $128m (R974m), up 54% from $83m (R629m) during the same period in 2009.
The number of transactions from June 1 to June 20 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 credit, debit and
prepaid cards on the first 10 days of the World Cup (June 11 to June
20) alone showed an increase of 81% over the same period
in 2009.
Visa spending data indicated that the United Kingdom, followed by
the United States, Australia, France and Brazil had 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," the
company's sponsorship management head Michael Lynch said in a statement.
- Sapa