Thomas Cook launches Cash Passport
5 Nov 2007
Customers at more than 400 of Thomas Cook stores in the UK and Northern Ireland will be offered the chance to buy holiday money in the form of GBP, USD or EUR prepaid Cash Passport cards this week. The prepaid currency cards have been developed in conjunction with foreign exchange specialists Travelex, using over thirty years of travel money experience. By the end of the year the number of Thomas Cook branches offering the ATM and Point of Sale (POS) card, specifically designed for overseas use, will have arrived in all of Thomas Cook’s 800 high street stores.
Thomas Cook expects the range of currency cards to fit well with the wide range of holidays it offers worldwide. . For example, consumers load the most onto US dollar cards (average transaction value of £539*) because travelling to America is often a longer and more special trip. The Euro card has a lower average load (£332*), but as the card has a three-year lifecycle, this means that it works equally well for short City breaks or a week-plus holiday.
Commenting on the Cash Passport launch, Melanie Whitehouse, Director, Financial Services UK & Ireland at Thomas Cook UK & Ireland said “We pride ourselves on offering our customers products of the highest standard related to match their travel needs. In addition to getting foreign currency from us, the new prepaid Cash Passport card will appeal to customers who need to carry larger amounts and want peace of mind that the balance can be replaced if the card is lost or stolen.”
In a recent YouGov survey, commissioned by Travelex, 37 per cent of respondents who bought their last foreign exchange from a travel agent said they were likely to use a Cash Passport in the future. With benefits including increased convenience, the opportunity for improved budgeting and better security, the card offers the traveller an easier and more practical way of taking their travel money abroad.
Stephen O’Donovan, Regional Divisional Director of Travelex Outsourcing UK & EMEA added: “Availability of Cash Passport at Thomas Cook’s stores is a further boost to the growth of prepaid cards as a way to carry travel money. Over the summer we saw strong growth in interest and usage among consumers who particularly like the additional convenience of Cash Passport. Adding Thomas Cook to our list of Cash Passport partners in the UK is great news and will help us achieve our ambition to make Cash Passport the travel product of 2008.”
The Cash Passport Visa card is reloadable for three years and is available in EUR USD and GBP.
Travelex is the largest global distributor of prepaid travel cards with global usage growing by more than 30 per cent in 2007.
* ATV figures calculated using May and June 2007 figures for Travel Agent branches