Visa is unveiling the year-long "Visa's Best Merchants" Program with the Korea National Tourism Organization (KNTO), in time to welcome international tourists for the 2002 World Cup.
Visa has been working in close partnership with the KNTO to promote Korea as a tourist destination with the "Korea Welcomes Visa" program since 1998. Visa is now reinforcing its marketing program by launching the "2002 Visa's Best Merchants" to provide exclusive privileges and services for Visa cardholders visiting Korea during the World Cup.
Until February 2003, Visa cardholders from overseas can enjoy various additional services and 5 to 50% discount while shopping at more than 170 designated "Visa's Best Merchants" in Korea. Carefully selected by Visa, these merchants include hotels, restaurants, duty free shops, amusement parks and golf courses in 10 cities including Seoul where the World Cup matches were held during the past six months.
A special "Visa's Best Merchants" shopping guide book has been produced in English, Japanese and Chinese and will be distributed at the airport at Incheon, major tourist information centers and tourism agencies in Korea. It will also be available at KNTO's overseas offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Bangkok and Beijing. The guide book covers detailed information on the 170 best merchants and locations of automated teller machines (ATMs) where foreign cardholders will be able to withdraw cash with their Visa cards in the 10 cities.
In addition, Visa plans to conduct incentive programs and service education for employees of the designated best merchants to improve service quality.
"Korea is one of the top destinations for international Visa cardholders, and within Asia Pacific, it is most popular among visiting cardholders from Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. 54% of the tourism revenue in Korea generated through credit cards last year was through Visa card use. For the upcoming World Cup, Visa will make every effort to offer added convenience and privileges to visiting cardholders as well as to help increase Korea's tourism revenue" said Rajiv Kapoor, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Product Sales, Visa International Asia Pacific.
Visa launched the successful "Korea Welcomes Visa" program in partnership with the KNTO from 1998 to 2001 to promote Korea as a travel destination to more than one billion Visa cardholders worldwide. Through the promotion, annual Visa card spend by overseas visitors to Korea contributed over US $620 million in tourism revenue in Korea last year, an 22% increase from US$510 million in 1997. As of today, Visa card sales volume contributed to 11% of Korea's total tourism revenue, taking up the largest share among exclusive card brands except cash.
Visa has also set up a special Visa Customer Center in Seoul to serve visiting cardholders from abroad. Served by multilingual staff, the Customer Center is conveniently located in the fashionable Myong-dong precinct in downtown Seoul and offers visiting cardholders a wide range of services. These include domestic and international travel booking, popular tours, accommodation, show and performance tickets reservations, emergency lost and stolen card assistance and the latest local shopping, dining and entertainment information.
The Center is open between 10am and 7pm daily, 365 days a year, and also offers a concierge service, Internet and e-mail access, as well as ATM, fax and copy facilities.
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