The UK’s contactless card spending has exceeded £2bn mark for the first time in July 2016, according to the new figures released by the UK Cards Association.
A total of £2.1bn worth of contactless payments were made in the month of July, as the number of contactless transactions grew by nearly 10% in July to reach 240 million.
The data further highlighted that approximately 19% of all card payments were completed using contactless technology in July.
In July, total card spending increased to £53.9bn, with debit cards accounting for the majority of the rise, according to the association. More than 1.2 billion card purchases were done during July.
The £2bn milestone was reached just four months after contactless spending topped the £1.5bn in March. Contactless payments totalled £9.27bn during the first six months of 2016.
Hotels witnessed a particularly big increase in overall card spending between June and July, up 25% to £2.1bn.
Despite registering big rise in card spending, the value of card spending on foreign currency and traveller’s cheques reduced significantly between June and July, falling by 14% to £807m.
The UK Cards Association head of policy Richard Koch said: “Consumers’ adoption of contactless continues apace, with the number of contactless payments jumping by a tenth in just one month.
“At over £2bn, contactless spending in July was more than three times higher than the same period last year.”
