Redeban, a monetary transaction processing company, said that between April 2 and 9, there was a growth of more than 24% in billing, accompanied by 31% more transactions compared to the previous year.
According to the company, Colombians made more than 18 million electronic transactions, with a turnover that amounted to more than $2 billion pesos throughout the 8 days that make up Holy Week. The figure exceeds what was registered during the 2022 season, in which almost 14 million transactions were registered, with a turnover that exceeded $1.6 trillion.
Read: The causes that led to the tourist debacle at Easter
“Exceeding the transaction and billing levels of 2022 at Easter are important signs for the dynamics of tourism in Colombia. In addition, it shows us significant progress in the process of building a country with greater financial inclusion of businesses and buyers,” said Andrés Felipe Duque, president of Redeban.
Cúcuta and San Andrés were the two destinations that surprised with their results. In the case of Cúcuta, there was a positive variation of 41% in the number of transactions and a billing close to $25 billion. For San Andrés, the results were the opposite, with a decrease of more than 23% in the number of transactions and almost 33% in billing compared to the same season of 2022.
Read: The complaint from San Andrés: “It was the worst Holy Week in history”
For their part, Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, and Barranquilla registered positive figures. Bogotá reported an increase of more than 33% in the number of transactions and a billing of $789 billion, Medellín registered an increase of 24% and more than $183 billion, Cali increased its transactions by 24%, totaling almost $130 billion, and Barranquilla increased its transactions by 25%, reaching the sum of $85 billion.
“In our balance sheet, we find an increasing transactional behavior in cities that have traditionally stood out as the preferred tourist destinations for Colombians for the season. However, there are also the cases of San Andrés and Cúcuta whose results are given as a consequence of specific situations in each region”, concluded Duque.
Read: The causes that led to the tourist debacle at Easter
In relation to the ways of buying preferred by Colombians, the prevalence of sales in physical points was evident, which represented more than 80% of the billing, while internet sales were almost 20%. Regarding card payments, the preference for debit card payments is clear, which represented more than 60% of transactions, compared to almost 40% made with credit. Likewise, Colombians during this week spent more money through debit cards, exceeding one trillion pesos. while credit cards only reached $900 million.
Finally, it is worth noting that the average ticket per transaction was $115 thousand pesos.
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