REUTERS/Benoit TessierJuly 27 (Reuters) - Visa (V.N) and Mastercard (MA.N), which bet on China to boost travel spending, have had to contend with a disappointing first half of the year as post-COVID momentum in the world's second-biggest economy loses steam.
In their earnings calls this week, both card giants said travel in China was nowhere near pre-pandemic levels.
"Looking at Mainland China specifically, cross-border travel continued to improve but remains well below 2019 levels," said Vasant Prabhu, Visa's chief financial officer.
His counterpart at Mastercard, Sachin Mehra, also said there was further room for travel recovery in China.
Reuters GraphicsInbound cross-border travel to China stood at nearly 50% of 2019 levels, while outbound travel was nearly 70%, the company said.
Persons:
Benoit Tessier, Vasant Prabhu, Sachin Mehra, Edward Jones, Logan Purk, Manya Saini, Niket, Krishna Chandra
Organizations:
REUTERS, Mastercard, Reuters, U.S, Reuters Graphics Visa, Thomson
Locations:
China, Mainland China, U.S . Federal, Bengaluru