(Reuters) – American Express Co (NYSE: ) beat Wall Street’s estimates Friday for its first quarter profit, thanks to strong spending by cardholders worldwide as the consumer demand for entertainment and travel reached pre-pandemic levels.

As pandemic regulations ease and COVID-19 is regressing to its peak, consumers in the United States have been spending more for months. This is because Americans are making up lost time shopping, traveling and eating out.

The trend has also fueled bullish spending forecasts from executives at major Wall Street banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:), Wells Fargo (NYSE 🙂 and Bank of America Corp (NYSE :).

AmEx stated that tourism and entertainment spending rose 121% on an adjusted basis to forex compared to one year prior and reached pre-pandemic levels in March.

American Express shares rose 1.5% to $188 prior to the bell. The New York-based firm’s total revenue, excluding interest expenses, rose 29% to approximately $11.74 billion.

This payments company believes that momentum will continue to the remainder of 2022. It reiterated its outlook for earnings per share of 9.25 to 9.65 and an increase in annual net revenue between 18%-20%.

AmEx reported net income of $2.1billion, or $2.73 per shares, in the March 31 quarter, as compared to $2.2billion, or 2.74 per share one year ago. Refinitiv IBES data shows that analysts were anticipating a profit of 2.44 per share.

The increase in customer engagement costs, as well as higher compensation costs, led to a 34% rise in company expenses. This contributed to the higher operating expenses.