There has been a marked uptick in spending by tourists and domestic consumers in Sri Lanka during the holiday season at the end of 2024, Visa, a digital payments entity stated in a media release.
Visa Consulting & Analytics (VCA), Visa’s advisory arm, highlighted key findings of consumer spend patterns during this period where there was an increase in commerce across payment options and channels.
An analysis of end-of-year spends of 2023 and 2024 showcased 40% increase in cross-border card transactionsin physical stores, with a clear preference for using debit cards, that witnessed almost 50% increase over last year. The over 35% surge in domestic card spends over the previous year was anchored by higher debit card spends, online (~55%) and in-store (over 40%).
Country Manager, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Visa Avanthi Colombage said, “With an influx of over two million tourists in 2024 and expected to reach three million in 2025, there was a surge of 40% in cross-border transactions through debit and credit cards over last year.
This was due to a 45% increase in debit card usage as well as more than 30% growth in credit usage.
Over 50% of this growth was contributed by nine countries, namely Australia, Canada, France, Germany, UAE, India, Japan, UK and USA. Interestingly, the country also welcome tourists from at least 13 new countries like Afghanistan and Barbados that had not previously performed digital transactions inthe island nation.”
