Known for its historic cities, Minas Gerais is one of the main destinations for vacations and e-money businesses in Brazil. According to a survey by Visa Consulting & Analytics (VCA) – Visa consultancy, between October 2018 and September 2019, the Minas Gerais cities of Belo Horizonte, Uberlândia, Confins, Juiz de Fora and Uberaba.
However, it was the places in the state where tourists Brazilians most used electronic money in segments related to tourism. As well as accommodation, car rental, restaurants, entertainment and travel agency expenses.
In Belo Horizonte, the car rental segment represents 53% of the volume of tourist payments with cards. Accommodation comes next (24%), restaurants (15%), travel agency expenses (6%), and entertainment (3%).
However, the car rental sector is also the main category with the highest volume of cards used by tourists in Uberlândia (43%), followed by accommodation (30%), restaurants (21%), entertainment (4%) and expenses with travel agencies ( 3%).
In Confins, car rental accounts for 42% of Visa payments volume, followed by expenses with travel agencies (31%), restaurants (22%), and accommodation (1%).
In Juiz de Fora, accommodation leads with the highest volume in the use of cards by domestic tourists (35%), followed by restaurants (33%), car rentals (25%), expenses with travel agencies (5%), and finally, entertainment (2%).
hosting leads
However, when analyzing the volume of payments with Visa cards in Uberaba, accommodation leads with 36% of use, followed by car rentals (30%), restaurants (28%), expenses with travel agencies (3%), and entertainment (2%).
Therefore “The data show that the consumer already understands the options and facilities that the payments market has presented. Even as cities adopt the use of digital payments, the impacts can have a catalytic effect on the overall economic performance of the municipality, such as growth in GDP, jobs, wages and productivity. All commerce benefits”, comments Rodrigo Santoro, Executive Director of Visa Consulting & Analytics in Brazil.
Although since 2018, Visa and its partners have been promoting the Cities of the Future program, which aims to encourage the migration of digital payments in cities where the use of paper money still predominates, reinforcing these benefits, such as an increase in economic growth, a drop in of crime, increase in the level of employment, increase in wages and increase in workers' productivity.
“200 Brazilian municipalities from different regions already participate directly. In Minas Gerais, Divinópolis, Juiz de Fora and Montes Claros receive actions from Cities of the Future”, adds Santoro.
ranking
Check below the first ten municipalities in Minas Gerais where digital payments were most used by Brazilian tourists, between October 2018 and September 2019, according to data transacted by the Visanet network:
1. Belo Horizonte
2. Uberlandia
3. Confines
4. Juiz de Fora
5. Uberaba
6. Camanducaia
7. Poços de Caldas
8. Ouro Preto-MG
9. Contagem-MG
10. Montes Claros-MG
About Cities of the Future
At the same time, 'Cities of the Future' is a program developed by the card operator, together with its customers and partners (issuers, acquirers and commercial establishments) that seeks to encourage the use of electronic means of payment in places where the use of the paper money.
As well as 2018, the cities of Belém (PA) Campina Grande (PB) and Maringá (PR) were chosen to start the project. In a year in which activations were carried out in the cities, there was an increase of 84% in the adoption of Visa electronic payments in the municipalities in relation to the other cities in the state of Pará, Paraíba and Paraná.
In short, in 2019, based on the 'Maturity Index for Digital Payments' – a survey carried out by Visa Consulting & Analytics that classified municipalities in four stages related to the level of development of electronic payments electronic money, Visa announced the expansion of the program to more 200 Brazilian cities.
