Music revellers at the Isle of Wight of Festival have rated a MasterCard pre-paid contactless wristband as a must-have essential for future live events.
Distributed to people in the VIP enclosure on a first-come, first-served basis, the PayPass prepaid wristbands were pre-loaded with £30, which could be used to purchase food and drinks with a simple tap of the wrist at Central Catering's bar and Jamie Oliver's 'Fabulous Feast' restaurant.
Festival-goers quizzed on the experience, said they were quicker (96%) and easier to use (98%) than credit or debit cards, while a resounding 100% said they'd want to use the PayPass prepaid wristbands again to pay at other festivals, concerts and sporting events.
Hany Fam, president of MasterCard UK & Ireland, says: "The project was really the first part of testing consumer acceptance of a truly 'cashless' environment, which has been much talked about in the festival world. We look forward to extending the PayPass prepaid wristbands to provide access as well as payments at more festivals and events across the UK."
In addition to the deployment of the PayPass prepaid wristbands, MasterCard also put conactless terminals in public areas for faster card payments and integrated them with the main gate access points for access control.