KUWAIT CITY: Visa the global leader in electronic payments, announced growth of more than 25% on Visa card spend over the previous year in the Kuwait market here the other day(as reported by client institutions as of YE Sep 2014).
Speaking at a media roundtable in Kuwait City, Visa announced that the country has witnessed a major shift towards electronic payments, and ranks 3rd in the MENA region in terms of overall spending on Visa cards.
According to Visa Net, the firm’s global payments processing platform, the top destinations in terms of international spending were UK, US and UAE. The top categories for spending by Kuwait residents travelling abroad include fashion retail, hotel accommodation and airlines, general department stores and luxury retail.
Amit Vij, Visa Country Manager for Kuwait, said: “Kuwait continues to be a focus market for Visa in the Middle East region, where the culture of electronic payments has been embraced widely by the government, financial institutions and merchants and by consumers. The positive effect of such a fully-rounded payments infrastructure can be seen in the strong double-digit growth in Visa card spending in the country.
“What has been particularly encouraging is the travel-spend behaviour among Kuwait residents, who are using their Visa card at every stage of their travel schedule – from booking their flights and accommodation at home to making secure payments while visiting their holiday or business destination overseas. This is both indicative of the growing affluence of residents in the country and shows that a greater number of cardholders are inclined to use electronic payments, at the POS or online, for high volume purchases.”
Recently, Visa rolled out its Lounge Key global airport access feature on its premium products in Kuwait, including Visa Infinite and Visa Signature. The new Lounge Key program offers unlimited, complimentary access to over 500 airport lounges worldwide in more than 300 cities globally, and will cover all key travel destinations. Additionally, Visa Infinite cardholders are entitled to bring a guest along with them.
Visa additionally aims to support the growth of e-Commerce in Kuwait in the coming years, by creating a safe and secure environment for online purchases with globally preferred solutions such as Verified by Visa (VbV).
Vij added: “At Visa, we are committed to enhancing the payments infrastructure through secure and reliable new technologies that seek to transform and simplify the way people pay and get paid.
