Travel to Saudi Arabia with your VISA Card

American Express had told his card holders for decades: “Don’t leave home without it.”

However, visiting Saudi Arabia with your VISA card will help the Saudi Tourism Authority understand the enormous growth of its travel and tourism industry, immediately react to trends, and enhance its travel and tourism experience for Saudi Visitors even more timely.

This is why at the recently concluded Arabian Travel Market in Dubai, an MoU was signed for the inbound and outbound travel industry in the Middle East, by Walter Lironi, Visa SVP for Visa Consulting and Analytics for CEMEA, and Abdulkarim Aldarwish, President of MEA Markets at Saudi Tourism Authority.

Visa, Master Card, and American Express have provided valuable data for the travel and tourism industry and its stakeholders, leaders, and governments for many years. The American Express Global Travel Trend report recently gave a complete insight into the state of the travel and tourism industry.

Such reports uncover the driving forces behind global traveler behaviors and how these factors shape travel’s future.

Visa is the largest credit card in the world, with a US$497.5 billion market capitalization in travel and tourism, while Mastercard followed closely behind at $359.8 billion in 2021, followed by American Express.

Abdulkarim Aldarwish, President of MEA Markets at Saudi Tourism Authority, said:

“The agreement with Visa, the world leader in digital payments, confirms that the Saudi Tourism Authority is keen to enhance its capabilities by providing, exchanging, and analyzing data as well as offering products and promotional package programs that improve the experience of tourists and attract more segments from the main markets in the region.”

In an interview produced for the Saudi Tourism Authority, Walter Lioni, Senior Vice President and Head of Visa Consulting and Analytics for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEMEA), explains.

Interview with Walter Lioni, Visa Card at ATM 2023

QUESTION for VISA:

On the opening day of Arabian Travel Market 2023, Visa and Saudi Tourism Authority (STA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Can you share more about the main goals and what this new partnership covers? 

Walter Lioni, Visa

We aim to help enhance the visitor journey and promote Saudi Arabia’s tourism sector. As part of the MoU, Visa and STA will also explore establishing a Tourism Data Lab to provide data-driven insights into travel and tourism trends, enabling Saudi Tourism Authority, Visa, and industry stakeholders to make informed decisions supporting the Saudi government’s tourism ambitions. 

Through this MOU, Visa and Saudi Tourism Authority will also aim to launch Visa’s digital payment solutions and exclusive tailored packages for Visa cardholders and tourists within the Middle East & African markets to visit Saudi. Packages for hassle-free payments and value deals will be discussed and finalized through consultation with relevant authorities.

QUESTION for VISA:

You have mentioned Tourism Data Lab. What’s behind this idea, and what is Visa’s role in supporting this unique initiative in the Middle East and Africa?

Walter Lioni, VISA:

The strategic collaboration will be powered by VisaNet, Visa’s payments database, which provides a wealth of data on inbound tourism and insight into how governments and authorities can optimize their digital strategy.

This will allow Saudi Tourism Authority to enhance its capabilities by providing, exchanging, and analyzing data and offering products and promotional package programs that improve the experience of tourists and attract more segments from the main markets in the region.

Through our broad payments database, the world’s largest and most representative, we can track visitors’ journeys from pre-arrival to departure and develop valuable insights.

Insights generated from the data include to mention a few, visitor journeys and spending behaviors across different categories, seasonality, digital adoption, and customer types, allowing for a holistic overview of how to create customer-centric payments experiences. We can also provide benchmarks with other countries in the Middle East and Africa that are competitive in tourism.

QUESTION for VISA

Can you share some of the latest insights into travel and tourism trends, the dynamics Visa has observed, and how Saudi is performing on a global/regional map?

Walter Lioni, VISA:

WL: Last month, our Visa Business and Economist Insights team found some encouraging data I’d like to share, especially for the Saudi market.

Firstly, I’d like to highlight that a full recovery is finally in sight for the travel and tourism industry, the earliest and hardest-hit sector of the economy.

Also, we see travel preferences evolving post-pandemic while the reshuffling of travel destinations is underway. The pandemic reordered the popularity of travel destinations.

For example, Mecca, which reopened earlier and has benefited from government efforts to promote tourism, has risen to become the 13th most visited city, up from 44th in 2019.

Cities in Europe and the Middle East re-opened earlier, and the travel infrastructure was already in place, making travel more accessible. And this opened new opportunities.

If we look at the insights for Riyadh, we see that the total arrivals recovery rate in 2022 was 167%. This is beyond full recovery, and we are seeing growth compared to 2019. In Medina, this recovery rate is 192%.

Saudi Arabia is fast emerging as a tourism hub with diverse and enriching experiences awaiting visitors. The industry is also a pivotal pillar in achieving the goals of Saudi Vision 2030 to diversify the economy and create new job opportunities.

The Saudi tourism system provides competitive facilities, services, support, and financing, where advanced digital infrastructure contributes to growth acceleration and success and empowers partners.

Finally, Saudi Arabia is known for its natural and cultural richness, diverse destinations: coasts, beaches, islands, natural and historical areas, and various events hosted throughout the year.