SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 11, 2008--Based on a worldwide online poll of more than 167,000 travel agencies
and front-line travel agents across more than 160 countries, Visa Inc.
(NYSE: V) has been named the "World's Leading Credit Card" by the 2008
World Travel Awards (WTA).
The World Travel Awards honors leading travel-related organizations in
worldwide and regional categories, which range from airlines, hotels,
beaches and cruise lines to credit cards, car rental companies and hotel
reservation services. Visa and other payment brands were evaluated
against criteria including scope of distribution, convenience and
overall services.
"Visa is honored to be recognized once again by one of tourism's most
prestigious awards programs," said Vicente Echeveste, Global Travel and
Tourism Lead at Visa Inc. "Through our continued partnership with the
tourism industry, we're focused on promoting sustainable growth by
delivering payment systems that offer value to travelers, businesses and
communities."
"Visa has been the favored card for international tourism for more than
a decade, despite intense competition," said
Graham Cooke
, president and
founder of the World Travel Awards. "We're pleased to recognize the
consistent and unsurpassed value that Visa delivers to travelers and
tourism providers worldwide."
A longtime supporter of tourism industries throughout the world, Visa
offers a network of more than 29 million merchant outlets and 1.6
billion cards in circulation worldwide. As a result of Visa's strategic
partnerships with many global merchants and corporations, Visa
cardholders can benefit from extraordinary values on travel and
entertainment promotions. For example, Visa.com provides Visa
cardholders with retail, travel and entertainment offers from hundreds
of merchants in key destination markets or by designated category around
the world. These extensive merchant and marketing relationships, as well
as Visa's unsurpassed acceptance around the world, have fostered growth
in the retail, travel and entertainment categories.
Visa received this designation last week at the 15th annual
WTA ceremony at Beaches Turks & Caicos Resort and Spa, Providenciales in
the Caribbean. This is the 11th consecutive year Visa has won
this award.
For more information on the 2008 World Travel Awards or for a complete
list of winners, visit www.WorldTravelAwards.com.
About Visa
Visa Inc. operates the world's largest retail electronic payments
network providing processing services and payment product platforms.
This includes consumer credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payments,
which are offered under the Visa, Visa Electron, Interlink and PLUS
brands. Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the world, and
Visa/PLUS is one of the world's largest global ATM networks, offering
cash access in local currency in more than 170 countries. For more
information, visit www.corporate.visa.com.
CONTACT: Visa Inc.
Paul Wilke
, +1 415-932-2248
pwwilke@visa.com
or
World Travel Awards
Cristina Onodi, +44 (0)20 7925 0000
cristina.onodi@worldtravelawards.com
Source: Visa Inc.