Istanbul

Istanbul stand out among “smart tourist friendly cities”

Visa Turkey General Manager Merve Tezel said, “It is our greatest desire to contribute to Istanbul becoming prominent among the smart tourist-friendly cities in the world after the epidemic.”

According to the statement made by Visa, as a result of the epidemic conditions that have been going on for more than a year, contactless card payments have become the most preferred payment method for consumers.

In Europe, more than 80% of face-to-face transactions with Visa cards are now made contactless. According to data from Interbank Card Center (BKM), contactless payments jumped the threshold by tripling the previous year as of February in Turkey too.

Experts predict that this trend will be permanent and the areas of use of contactless payments will become more common outside of retail shopping. Public transportation is one of these areas.

More than 400 cities around the world, including London, New York, Rome and Madrid, where business life and tourism are intense, allow contactless passes with local and foreign credit and debit cards in public transportation with Visa technology.

Passengers can use their daily credit and debit cards or their loaded mobile devices to directly pass through the turnstiles. This eliminates the need to carry money, buy tickets or upload money.

This system, which also enables the use of foreign payment cards in transportation, allows tourists to easily pass through the turnstiles with credit or debit cards without thinking about where to buy tickets or waiting in the ticket queue in cities with high tourism potential.

“We opened public transportation to credit cards, debit cards and prepaid cards”

Visa Turkey General Manager Merve Tezel, whose views were given in the statement, stated that contactless credit and debit card passes will become more common in transportation adopted worldwide.

Underlining that Visa has a long history of successful acceptance of digital payments in public transportation, Tezel said:

“As a result of our collaborations with more than 400 cities around the world, we opened public transportation to credit cards, debit cards and prepaid cards. We have provided a completely different urban transportation experience to millions of people with these applications that we have implemented with transportation operators, public and private sector and technology business partners. With the global expertise and extensive experience we have acquired, it is our greatest desire to contribute to the prominence of Istanbul among smart tourist-friendly cities after the epidemic. Istanbul, which currently offers a contactless transition experience, has the potential to stand out among tourist-friendly smart cities in the post-epidemic period, especially by enabling tourists to use public transportation more easily with this technology.”

Source: AA / Translated by Irem Yildiz

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