For the ninth consecutive year, the World Travel Awards, a prestigious awards ceremony that acknowledges significant achievements in all areas of the travel and tourism industry, has named Visa International the ‘World’s Leading Credit Card.’ The awards take into account the views of travel agents and professionals worldwide. Over two million votes were cast during a five-month independent survey period and the fact that no-one has been able to knock Visa International off the top spot for nearly a decade, is testament that it has a credit card offering that is unbeatable.

This achievement is attributed to Visa International’s continued focus, its commitment to excellence, the value-added services it provides for travelers, and its innovative online travel portal.

Visa International is a strategic partner with many of the leading global corporations and merchants. It creates retail and T&E promotions that deliver extraordinary values to its cardholders worldwide. Its extensive merchant relationships and marketing partnerships, as well as its unsurpassed acceptance around the world, are driving for its growth in the retail and T&E arenas.

Commenting on this achievement, Tom Shepard the Executive Vice President for Global Marketing Partnerships and Sponsorships at Visa International said, ‘Visa International is delighted to receive this award on behalf of our member banks. The firm continues to grow with the travel industry. It achieves its success by providing merchants with access to millions of Visa cardholders as well as by providing cardholders with unsurpassed acceptance worldwide along with travel and entertainment programs linked to Visa payment cards. Cardholders receive added value that goes beyond the convenience and confidence that Visa International provides. We are honored to receive this accolade from one of the industry’s most important awards programs.’

From his end, Mr. Naser Abu Ghazaleh, Visa International’s General Manager for the Levant said,

‘We at Visa International are very proud to be the recipients of this prestigious award. This achievement shows that Visa International is viewed by most as the world’s most convenient and most widely-accepted method of payment. I hope that we continue to see the spread of Visa International grow. As always, Visa International sees itself as a key player in bringing about further development for all the countries it operates within. In Lebanon, we have contributed significantly to the local tourism sector as our cards are widely accepted in a multitude of outlets across this area. As for our contributions to the banking sector, Visa International is always proud to bring citizens from all sectors in the communities it operates within to the electronic payment scene and to introduce them to new and more lucrative means to go about their day to day spending’.

Visa International has also created an innovative, interactive, online travel portal, ‘Visa Destinations,’ which provides its cardholders with exclusive offers and values from a select group of global travel, retail and entertainment merchants. Featuring a wide range of valuable offers and information, this user-friendly travel planning website can be accessed at www.visadestinations.com . The site contains retail, travel and entertainment offers from hundreds of merchants in key destination markets or by designated category around the world.

The World Travel Awards association held its 13th annual World Travel Awards Ceremony on September 20th 2006. During the ceremony the association honored leading travel-related organizations in worldwide and regional categories. The categories range from airlines, hotels, beaches and cruise lines to credit cards, car rental companies and hotel reservation services.

The online voting took place throughout the year 2006 at www.worldtravelawards.com. This website enabled travel agents and professionals in over 200 countries worldwide to let the world know who they thought was the best in the travel industry.
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