Contactless payment wristbands a festival hit

It’s great to see that one year after we tested MasterCard® PayPass™ prepaid contactless wristbands at the Isle of Wight Festival, nearly a fifth of visitors to this year’s event are reported to have used the technology, according to Event magazine.

When we tested the pre-paid wristbands back in 2011 a resounding 100% of people interviewed said that they’d want to use the wristbands again at other festivals, concerts and sporting events.

Respondents said that they were quicker (96%) and easier to use (98%) than credit or debit cards, with 87% saying it was faster than paying by cash.

Regular festival goers were very excited about the wristbands, found them extremely easy to use, and could immediately see the benefits including faster queues for food and drink. Festival goers face a number of security concerns when carrying cash at festivals so contactless payment systems remove the need to carry quantities of cash to last the whole weekend.

The Wireless festival in Hyde Park this July will be the first in the UK where all vendors will accept contactless payments.