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Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Holiday spending increases
MANILA - Preliminary figures released by Visa International show that local and overseas Visa card-holders spent more than $276 million on their Visa cards over the holiday shopping season.
The figures covered from the middle of November to the end of December in the Philippines, representing a 42 percent increase over the same period the previous year.
The number of transactions also grew by over 22 percent to over five million, demonstrating the strength of the Philippine economy.
Visa Credit products accounted for over 71 percent of the spending.
Visa Credit cardholders in the Philippines generated over $196 million, a 32 percent increase from the same period the previous year. The number of transactions grew by over 17 percent to just over 4 million.
Biggest
Transactions using Visa Debit products experienced the biggest growth, with a 74 percent increase in spending when compared with the same period the previous year.
The spending amounted to over $79 million, while the number of transactions grew by over 45 percent to just over one million.
“The Visa card spending figures generated over this holiday season shows that more consumers are seeing the benefits of electronic payments. Credit card usage continued to increase while Debit card usage saw a tremendous surge,” said Visa International Country Manager for the Philippines James Dixon.
“With more and more banks offering Visa Credit, Debit, and Prepaid products and more merchants accepting Visa cards, we expect this growth trend to continue.”
Economy
“Visa is the largest global payment card association that provides unparalleled convenience, security and rewarding ways to pay or be paid. Visa is committed to offering more and better products and services to contribute to the Philippine economy,” Dixon added.
In Asia Pacific, consumers spent more than $19 billion on their Visa cards over the holiday shopping season, an increase of more than 6 percent year on year, and the highest-ever total spending recorded at this time of the year.
The amount spent was generated by more than 227 million transactions, up 11 percent from the previous year’s 203 million.
Globally, consumers and businesses spent $34 billion more on their Visa cards over this holiday season than the previous year.
Overall, global holiday season spending processed by Visa rose 13 percent to $291 billion.
Transactions
In all, Visa settled 4.4 billion transactions during the holiday shopping season, up 16 percent from the 3.8 billion transactions settled in 2004.
All data are based on transactions processed through VisaNet, Visa’s global transaction processing network, and includes both consumer and business transactions. (From PR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (January 24, 2006 issue)
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