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New Cash Passport prepaid card for young travellers

23rd July 2014 Print

Access Prepaid Worldwide, a MasterCard subsidiary, has launched its new Young Traveller Cash Passport prepaid card. The card, available exclusively online, is based on its award-winning Multi-currency Cash Passport. The card has been specifically designed and tailored to appeal to the youth market by showcasing how to make travel money easier, safer and smarter.

To celebrate the launch Access Prepaid have released their first ever youth holiday spending report, which explores the travel habits of 18-29 year olds in the UK. The study found that the US was the top dream holiday trip for young Brits, but that they most commonly take holidays in Western Europe, with 43% of young people having been there on their last trip abroad. The second most popular destination was Western Europe (15%) followed by Australia (12%), South America (6%) and Central Europe (6%).
 
When it came to travel spending habits, the study found that 38 percent of young people in the UK spent £175 more than they intended to on their last holiday, despite taking an average of £297 in holiday money away with them. Interestingly men not only took more cash with them than women (£304 versus £292), but they also overspent by more too. The most common reasons for overspending were eating out (34%), followed by shopping (31%), alcohol (25%), excursions (24%) and presents (20%).

Amongst young travellers, the biggest concerns regarding travel money and spending whilst on holiday are running out of money (30%), spending more than they intended to (25%) or having their card / cash stolen (24%).

Jon Milsted, Head of Product, Marketing and Business Strategy for Access Prepaid Worldwide said “We’ve spent a lot of time really understanding what young travellers are looking for when it comes to organising their travel money and we’ve tailored our existing Multi-currency Cash Passport product to suit their needs. Our new Cash Passport has been designed for the youth segment, with clear and easy to understand features that make keeping travel money secure and budgeting simple. Our research clearly showed that young people are looking to be more financially savvy when it comes to holiday money, and we believe the Cash Passport is the safer, easier and smarter way for them to budget for and enjoy their travels.”

The research found that for the younger generation the most common form of money to take on holiday is cash, with three quarters (76%) citing this as their usual choice for spending money. A third (33%) take a debit card while nearly a quarter (23%) rely on credit cards. Prepaid card comes in fourth with 12% normally taking their spending money in this form and twice as many men (18%) using a prepaid card compared to women (9%). Of the 69% of respondents who have never used a prepaid card before, nearly half (45%) would consider doing so in the future.

Thinking back to their last holiday, 34% of young people surveyed put money into a savings account to help plan for their upcoming trip. This was the most popular method of saving, followed by putting cash aside which a fifth of respondents did. 18% used a credit card for some or all of their holiday spending money, with men more likely to rely on plastic than women (23% vs. 14%).

About the New Cash Passport for Young Traveller Card

Easier - It’s accepted globally at over 37 million locations including 2.1million cash machines and wherever the MasterCard® Acceptance Mark is displayed. A handy mobile app is also available to download, which allows travellers to track their spending whilst on the go anywhere in the world.

Safer - The card is Chip and PIN protected and not linked to a personal bank account providing added security. The ability to lock in exchange rates means travellers can be much smarter about getting the best value for their holiday money.
 
Smarter - The card also has the support of a UK based Card Services helpdesk which is available 24hours a day, 365 days a year. Should a customer lose their card or have it stolen we can get a replacement or emergency cash (if they’ve got some on their card!) to them as soon as possible, so they can keep on enjoying their adventure.

Cash Passport is available to purchase online at travel.cashpassport.com.