Study: ‘’U.S. travelers use credit cards while traveling internationally more likely than their global counterparts.’’

Increasingly the credit card becomes like our Passport, when we make displacements. According to the Global Travel Intentions Study 2013 by Visa Inc., U.S travelers plan to spend 40 percent more on their next international trip compared to their last trip, opposed to travelers outside the U.S. who plan to increase travel spend by just 4.6 percent.

Connectikpeople has also discovered that more than half of U.S. travelers surveyed plan and book their trips using online review and
booking sites and 38 percent choose destinations rich in cultural experiences.

The same study shows that, U.S. travelers are more likely than their global counterparts to use credit cards while traveling internationally (81 percent versus 74 percent) and, citing cash as cumbersome to carry around, most bring minimal cash during trips.

In addition, having control over their expenditures and security are the top two reasons why U.S. travelers use cards (70 percent).

Results show that Americans enjoy treating themselves while on vacation, with dining (29 percent) and retail (24 percent) accounting for the majority of travel spend.

Finally, Connectikpeople has discovered that, U.S. travelers rely heavily on the Web for planning their travel (79 percent versus 71 percent of international respondents). According to the study the differences increase during the booking phase, when Americans are about 20 percent more likely to use online sources than their global counterparts. Americans cited travel review websites and service provider websites and other online sources as their most trusted online resources, with the ability to compare prices as the most important factor in selecting what site to book through.

Now when choosing a travel destination, Americans place priority on the area’s rich culture (38 percent) and good weather (32 percent).

You can learn more about the study and download infographics, here!

About Visa’s Global Travel Intentions Study 2013

The Visa Global Travel Intentions Study 2013 was commissioned by Visa to Millward Brown. Fieldwork was conducted between November and December 2012. It was based on online and offline surveys with 12,631 travelers aged 18 and above, across 25 markets in Asia Pacific (Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand), Europe (France, Germany, Russia, U.K.), Africa & Middle East (Egypt, Kuwait, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, UAE), and the Americas (Brazil, Canada, Mexico, USA).

About Visa Inc.

Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments. We operate one of the world’s most advanced processing networks  VisaNet  that is capable of handling more than 30,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and assured payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa’s innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products.