Visa has seen a steady surge in card transactions in shops and other service outlets with an average increase of nearly 200 per cent in the number of transactions across the Middle East at the end of March.
"The trend of increase in usage in supermarkets, restaurants, recurring utility payments, petrol stations and other low value spend areas has been key to our development of the new brand campaign," said Kamran Siddiqi, Visa's general manager for the Middle East.
Visa competes globally and locally with various payment card systems.
In the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (Cemea) region, however, cash is the main competitor.
Visa has initiated a campaign to continue to position the brand as an everyday alternative to cash.
"The opportunity is to continue the strong trend of migrating payments from cash to electronic payments across the diverse Cemea region," said Alex Craddock, head of marketing, Visa International in Cemea.
Making Visa increasingly relevant to everyday usage is the key, he added.
