Online travel bookings soar by 58% ahead of Carnival, according to Worldpay

Sao Paulo, Brazil: – 14^th February 2017 — Global payments leader Worldpay has seen online sales for airlines and travel agents soar in the run up to this year’s Carnival season.

Analysis of consumer spending patterns found that online travel sales are 58% higher than this time last year*. And this number is set to surge in the weeks leading up to the spring festival, as Brazilians take advantage of last minute deals to visit family and friends, as well as celebrate at the world-famous Carnival.

Online travel agents and marketplaces have been some of the biggest winners, with takings increasing by a whopping 63% year-on-year, as more Brazilians than ever before flock to popular Carnival destinations to join in the party.

Interestingly, Worldpay found the average sale size has significantly increased since last year, with Brazilian travelers spending 55% more per booking than in 2016. This suggests that Brazilian consumer confidence is increasing, as the economy shows signs of growth for the first time in two years following the Olympic and Paralympic Games¹.
Commenting on the data, Juan D’Antiochia, General Manager, Latin America at Worldpay said:
“This year’s Carnival fever is well and truly underway, with millions of people planning their getaways to Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Sao Paulo and Olinda for their famous celebrations. The Ministry of Tourism has already predicted a 6%² increase in inbound tourism over the coming year, thanks to the Olympic legacy. However our data suggests that there will be an increasing number of domestic tourists too.”
D’Antiochia added, “Carnival is a significant event in the calendar for travel businesses, and tourism revenue during the holiday is projected to hit 5.8 billion reais this year, according to the National Commerce Confederation (CNC).³ Smart businesses will plan ahead to benefit from the boom in online bookings. Offering special Carnival deals and ensuring that checkout-pages are mobile-optimised could be a good way to boost sales and help customers pay the way they want to.”

* Figures refer to YoY comparison of customer transaction data in the three weeks leading up to Carnival.

For more information please contact: WorldpayeCommTeam@Golin.com

About the data
Figures quoted are according to Worldpay’s Global eCom customer transaction data for airlines and online travel agents in Brazil 15/01/2016-4/02/2016, compared to 23/01/2017-08/02/2017. In 2015, Worldpay processed 13.1bn transactions for more than 400,000 customers.

About Worldpay
Worldpay is a leading payments company with global reach. We provide an extensive range of technology-led payment products and services to over 400,000 customers, enabling their businesses to grow and prosper. We manage the increasing complexity of the payments landscape for our customers, allowing them to accept the widest range of payment types around the world.

Using our network and technology, we are able to process payments from geographies covering 99% of global GDP, across 146 countries and 126 currencies. We help our customers to accept more than 300 different payment types, by providing an end-to-end service including acquiring, treasury, gateway, alternative payments and risk management, all via a single integration to Worldpay. Worldpay makes global payments simple for many of the world’s leading organisations.

Worldpay makes global payments simple for many of the world’s leading organizations.

http://www.worldpay.com/global
@Worldpay

¹http://www.valor.com.br/brasil/4863974/mercado-revisara-previsao-do-pib-para-cima-cre-meirelles

²http://www.brasil.gov.br/turismo/2017/01/brasil-recebeu-6-6-milhoes-de-turistas-estrangeiros-em-2016

³http://cnc.org.br/noticias/economia/carnaval-devera-movimentar-r-58-bilhoes-no-turismo-brasileiro