Bulgarians spent EUR 65 million for the summer abroad
Bulgarians have spent EUR 65.5 million with their Visa bank cards when traveling and shopping abroad in the months of June and July this year.
Payments in retail outlets outside the country with cards issued by native financial institutions increased by 23% in June and July compared to the same period last year, Visa Europe announced.
The number of transactions jumped by 28% year-on-year to 1.23 million total payments. This makes an average of EUR 53.2 per card payment in retail outlets abroad.
The main countries where Bulgarian cardholders have made their purchases are the UK, the USA, Italy, France, Hungary, Germany, Greece and Spain.
In July alone, the holders of Visa cards, issued by the Bulgarian financial institutions, have made EUR 33.9 million purchases abroad. This is 7% higher than in the previous month.
"The comparison shows that July was more active than in June. The likely reason for this is that traditionally people plan their summer trips for the period after mid-June," Visa Europe Bulgaria head Krasimira Raicheva noted.
It should be mentioned, that the total of EUR 65.5 million includes purchases made through online stores registered abroad.
"The data shows that Bulgarian cardholders use their Visa cards increasingly, when traveling and shopping in foreign online stores" Raicheva added.
Source: http://www.standartnews.com/
(22.08.2013)