BOURNEMOUTH has been named among the top towns and cities using contactless pay since the start of the pandemic.

The town is among the top 20 places that have seen a significant rise in the use of contactless payment methods in response to Covid-19, according to the latest research.

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A report by UK merchant payment provider Dojo shows  a sharp increase in the use of contactless payments methods by consumers, accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic. 

The company used their unique transaction data to analyse the year-on-year (YoY) increase of contactless payment methods during the course of the pandemic (from 2019 to 2021).

Bournemouth Echo:

The study reveals that our coastal town has made the list of top cities in the UK embracing contactless cards in response to the pandemic.

Bournemouth has seen a year on year increase of 6.9 per-cent in response to Covid.

In first place is York which has seen an exponential increase in the use of contactless over the pandemic.

A huge 84 per-cent of payments in the historic city were made by contactless cards over the last year with a significant YoY increase of 10.6 per-cent from pre-pandemic levels. 

The port city of Plymouth, in Devon, was second with 82 per-cent of payments proving contactless followed by London, boasting a 10.4 per-cent YoY increase of cash-free transactions

Bournemouth Ranks sixth in the list of the top cities embracing tech-savvy Apple & Google Pay

Bournemouth Echo:

A staggering 84 per-cent of Brits are estimated to own a smartphone. So, with COVID-19 causing some businesses to refuse cash, digital contactless payment technologies like Apple and Google pay are on the up.

Bournemouth comes sixth with an increase of 449.7 per-cent in response to the pandemic, but Hull leads with a monumental YoY increase of 646.8 per-cent.

Jon Knott, head of customer insight at Dojo said:“The COVID-19  pandemic has changed everyone’s lives in a number of ways that we could have never predicted even 13 months ago. 

"Smaller businesses that were previously cash-only have rapidly changed how they operate to meet consumer demands and keep pace with larger competitors, so they don’t lose custom. 

"It’s clear that the huge upturn in the use of contactless technology is speeding up the UK’s shift towards a cashless economy, but at a rate far beyond what anyone was expecting pre-coronavirus. 

"With consumers now having embraced the ease and practicality of going contactless and with the introduction of the £100 contactless card limit set to launch this year we expect to see these changes stick."