With less than 100 days to go until the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, data from Visa Consulting & Analytics (VCA) finds a surge in flight bookings and ticket purchases for the Winter Games made with Visa (NYSE: V) across Italy’s host regions. Ahead of the upcoming 2026 Winter Games, Northern Italy is expected to see a significant “160%+ increase” in international travelers arriving by plane compared to this same time just this past winter. The largest contributors are said to be flying in from the US, the UK and Canada.
U.S. Visa cardholders reportedly account for the “largest share of ticket spend (35%) among tickets purchased with a Visa card.”
Following the US are:
- Germany (more than 10%), Canada (nearly 10%), Switzerland (5%), UK (5%) and France (5%).
- The highest average spend per Visa cardholder: Australia, Canada, U.S. and the Netherlands.
- 90% of Italians expect benefits for host cities of the Milano Cortina 2026 Games, including lasting improvements to public spaces, transport, infrastructure and tourism.
- 95% of small and medium businesses in Northern Italy expect a positive economic impact.
Andrea Fairchild, SVP, Global Sponsorship and Experiential Marketing, Visa said that the uptick in travel reflects more than demand – it shows “how the Games inspire connection, opportunity and shared excitement long before the first event begins.”
As the Payment Technology Partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Visa is marking 40 years as a Worldwide Partner, now delivering payment experiences for fans, athletes, merchants.
Visa explained that it is now enabling contactless payments across public transport, mountain resorts, and ski services – “helping to digitize more than 50 ski destinations in Italy and driving a shift in consumer spending that benefits local merchants.”
Via its Team Visa program, Visa said that it continues to support Olympic and Paralympic athletes and hopefuls ahead of Milano Cortina 2026.
As covered, Visa is an enabler of digital payments, facilitating transactions between individual consumers, merchants, FIs as well as government entities across 200+ countries and territories.
Their stated mission is to connect the world via the most progressive, accessible, dependable and safe payments network, allowing individuals, businesses and economies to excel.
They claim to believe that economies that include everyone and everywhere, uplift everyone, everywhere and see “access as foundational to the future of money movement.”