Muscat - Across Oman, payment habits continue to rapidly evolve, with more consumers embracing faster, more secure digital experiences.
Visa’s third edition of ‘Where Cash Hides’ report shows 64% of Omani consumers are largely non-cash users, making most of their payments with cards or mobile devices.
This is an increase of 15% compared with last year, highlighting a clear move away from cash.
Digital Payments Break into Cash-Heavy Categories
The appeal of cash is also decreasing in day-to-day purchases. Only 19% of Oman consumers surveyed use cash for everyday purchases, down from 28% last year. This downward trend is visible across all major categories where cash remains popular, including petrol stations (-10%), local markets (-10%), and groceries (-10%).
For everyday spending such as petrol, groceries, and public transport, debit cards are the payment method of choice. In making payments to another person (or peer-to-peer (P2P) payments), tips are still paid in cash by 69% of Oman consumers, the most common remaining cash use. Cash is also widely used for peer-to-peer payments (35%), property rent payments (9%), and for international money transfers through exchange houses (8%).
“What we see in Oman is a clear change in how people choose to pay across different parts of their daily lives, with cash gradually fading from regular spending.
This shift reflects growing confidence in card-based payments and changing expectations around how payments should work,” said Nasser Bdeir, Visa’s Country Manager for Oman. “As more people use cards in everyday situations, they look for options that are quick, convenient, and safe. When digital solutions meet these needs, they naturally become the preferred choice."
The findings of Visa’s Where Cash Hides research suggest that Omani consumers are increasingly reliant on digital payments because they are more convenient, secure, and rewarding.
Compared to cash, debit and credit cards offer consumers greater security, convenience, and transparency. They eliminate the risks of carrying physical money, enable seamless online and in-store purchases, and provide instant transaction records for better budgeting. Mobile payments offer enhanced convenience and security through tokenization, which replaces sensitive card details with unique digital identifiers so the actual card number is never shared.
Credit cards also come with rewards programs, cashback offers, and travel or lifestyle benefits, value benefits that consumers have come to expect when they spend at home or travel abroad.
