Known for its historic cities, Minas Gerais is one of Brazil's top vacation and e-money business destinations. According to a survey by Visa Consulting & Analytics (VCA), a Visa consultancy firm, between October 2018 and September 2019, the Minas Gerais cities of Belo Horizonte, Uberlândia, Confins, Juiz de Fora, and Uberaba were among the top destinations.
However, it was the places in the state where tourists Brazilians used electronic money most in tourism-related segments, such as accommodations, car rentals, restaurants, entertainment, and travel agency expenses.
In Belo Horizonte, the car rental segment accounts for 53% of tourist card payments. Lodging 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 card use by tourists in Uberlândia (43%), followed by accommodation (30%), restaurants (21%), entertainment (4%) and expenses with travel agencies (3%).
In Confins, car rentals represent 42% of the volume of Visa payments, followed by expenses with travel agencies (31%), restaurants (22%), and accommodation (1%).
In Juiz de Fora, accommodation leads with the highest volume of card use by domestic tourists (35%), followed by restaurants (33%), car rental (25%), expenses with travel agencies (5%), and finally, entertainment (2%).
Hosting leads
However, when analyzing the payment volume with Visa cards in Uberaba, accommodation leads with 36% of use, followed by car rental (30%), restaurants (28%), expenses with travel agencies (3%), and entertainment (2%).
Therefore, "The data shows that consumers already understand the options and conveniences offered by the payments market. Even as cities adopt the use of digital payments, the impacts can have a catalytic effect on the municipality's overall economic performance, such as GDP growth, employment, wages, and productivity. All businesses benefit," comments Rodrigo Santoro, Executive Director of Visa Consulting & Analytics in Brazil.
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 increased economic growth, reduced crime, increased employment levels, higher wages and increased worker productivity.
"200 Brazilian municipalities from various regions are already directly participating. In Minas Gerais, Divinópolis, Juiz de Fora, and Montes Claros are receiving Cities of the Future initiatives," adds Santoro.
Ranking
Check out below the top 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. Uberlândia
3. Confines
4. Judge of 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 payment methods in places where the use of paper money still predominates.
In 2018, the cities of Belém (PA), Campina Grande (PB), and Maringá (PR) were chosen to launch the project. In the year in which the activations were carried out in these cities, there was an increase of 84% in the adoption of Visa electronic payments in these municipalities compared to other cities in the states of Pará, Paraíba, and Paraná.
In 2019, based on the 'Digital Payments Maturity Index' – a survey carried out by Visa Consulting & Analytics that classified municipalities into four stages related to the level of development of electronic payments and electronic money, Visa announced the expansion of the program to another 200 Brazilian cities.