Contactless spending passes £2 billion in July

Contactless payments totalled £2.1 billion in July as the number of contactless transactions grew by almost 10 per cent in the month to reach 240 million.

19 per cent of all card payments were made using contactless technology in July.

The milestone comes four months after contactless spending topped £1.5 billion in March. In the first six months of 2016, contactless payments totalled £9.27 billion.

Total card spending increased to a monthly record of £53.9 billion in July, with debit cards accounting for the majority of the rise. There were over 1.2 billion card purchases in the month.

Hotels saw the largest increase in overall card spending between June and July, up 25 per cent to £2.1 billion, as the lower value of the pound likely encouraged a greater number of domestic and international travellers.

Meanwhile, the value of card spending on foreign currency and traveller’s cheques registered a significant decrease between June and July, falling by 14 per cent to £807 million.

This follows on from an increase of 27 per cent to £935 million between May and June.

Richard Koch, head of policy at The UK Cards Association, said: “Consumers’ adoption of contactless continues apace, with the number of contactless payments jumping by a tenth in just one month. At over £2 billion, contactless spending in July was more than three times higher than the same period last year.”