Visa Inc. Reports ‘A Lot’ Of Demand For Rio Olympics

Visa Inc. predicts as many as 500,000 tourists will head to Rio de Janeiro in August for the Olympic games.

That’s more than originally expected. With to the country’s struggling economy and the Zika virus, Brazil’s tourism ministry had estimated only 380,000 international travelers would visit for the games.

Visa’s projections are based on an “enormous amount of transactions” in the region, ranging from hotel nights to transportation. Visa, a partner of the Olympic games, is the only form of payment accepted besides cash for Olympic tickets and travel packages.

Visa predicts about 45% of travelers will come from Latin America and the Caribbean, 30% from Europe, and only 15% from North America.