MasterCard Sponsors Australian Open and Hopman Cup

MasterCard has signed a deal with Tennis Australia (TA) to become the official payment partner of the Australian Open and the naming rights partner for the MasterCard Hopman Cup.

As part of the collaboration, MasterCard will be involved in a variety of Australian Open lead-up events, including launch activities in Tokyo, Shanghai and Singapore. The company will also become an official partner of the Emirates Australian Open Series tournaments in Sydney, Hobart and Adelaide.

“The beauty of sport is in those priceless moments – a nail biting finish, a winning try, a triumphant underdog, or, in tennis it’s the comeback from two sets down, or the deuce to extend match point. Sport has the power to connect and bring truly priceless moments to life,” said Sam Ahmed, senior vice president, Marketing, Asia Pacific, MasterCard. “Our partnership with Tennis Australia will allow us to showcase our broad range of products that will no doubt make the spectator experience even more Priceless, whether you’re sitting beside center court or watching from the comfort of your couch.”

The Australian Open 2016 set a new attendance record with 720,363 spectators, 13% of these spectators visited from overseas making the tournament a significant tourism driver for Australia during the summer period.

Travelers from New Zealand, UK and the US led the charge in visitor numbers in January this year, and the country saw a 25 growth in visitors from Asian markets, with travelers from China and Japan making up the majority of international visitors at the Australian Open.

According to MasterCard’s SpendingPulse report, the increase in visitors also resulted in a healthy injection of spend in the local economy.

Bars and restaurants were a major beneficiary of the increase in non-business travel; spend from British travelers was up 50%year-on-year, and American spending up 80% year-on-year in January - the strongest month of growth seen this year.

The tournament also helped drive spend in recreation, with British visitors spending 26% more on recreation in Australia in the last two weeks of January than they did the year prior. Americans also spent 30% more on recreation in January than the year prior.

“The collaboration with Tennis Australia offers us a way to showcase to consumers the benefits of being a MasterCard cardholder in a tangible way. From purchasing tickets online and booking travel, to paying for your transport to the tennis and purchasing food, drinks and merchandise, we can demonstrate to cardholders how fast, easy and safe it is rely on your MasterCard to make it all happen for you,” added Ahmed.

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