Visa, one of the world’s largest payment providers, is collaborating with Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, to equip visitors at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest with contactless payment wristbands.

 Gemalto’s solution for Visa encompasses personalization, packaging and fulfilment of the contactless wristbands, and utilizes its Allynis Smart Event Platform for the prepaid payment programme and event management.

The Visa contactless wristbands will be part of Visa Europe’s official ESC sponsorship, which will be made available for purchase at the Eurovision Village in Stockholm, Sweden, in the week leading up to the contest.

Eurovision Song Contest expects to attract up to 65,000 visitors providing a contactless experience and culminates in a Grand Finale at the Globe Arena on May 14 drawing an estimated TV audience of 200 million.

Nassir Ghrous, SVP Middle East at Gemalto said: “These wearable solutions are part of the future of contactless payments, not just in Europe, but around the world. This technology has huge room for growth, especially in the UAE, which welcomes thousands of visitors to large-scale, international events each year.”

“Dubai’s Meydan Racecourse hosts up to 60,000 people at any one time during peak race season, and Yas Marina Circuit is set to draw approximately 50,000 fans to this year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. We expect Contactless PayBand to revolutionize attendees’ purchasing experience and queueing for payment at events like these in the near future,” he added.

Gemalto’s integrated solution ensures that Visa will be able to showcase contactless experiences, including shopping without carrying cash or payment cards. Gemalto has provided a responsive website that enables access to real-time account information including prepaid balances and history.

The wristbands can be used to make payments at any Visa ready contactless POS terminal in the world and continue to be active after the show is over until October 31.

The Allynis Smart Event Platform can be employed in conjunction with any payment form factor, including wearables and mobile NFC, and provides off-the-shelf management of payment, data and access rights as well as an extensive portfolio of white label applications.

The full solution supports a rich array of features including ‘tap and go’ payments, seamless access management to venues and hospitality areas, and many other value-added applications. It improves and secures the visitor experience, and enables organizers and other stakeholders to implement intelligent communication, marketing and loyalty programs that run before, during and after live events.


“At this year’s event, Visa is creating a new contactless payments experience for fans and visitors of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016,” said Christina Lind, country manager Visa Europe Sweden.

“Together with Gemalto we are taking a big step into the future of payments and the launch of contactless in Sweden.”

“Gemalto’s support for Visa Europe at Eurovision 2016 demonstrates how the live event ecosystem is ideally suited to an extended NFC experience,” said Philippe Cambriel, President for Europe, Mediterranean and CIS at Gemalto. “Our end-to-end Smart Event service makes it easy to look beyond contactless payments and embrace additional functions such as access, visitor entitlements and data management.”  - TradeArabia News Service