Visa Europe launches a discount program for cardholders travelling abroad

Visa cardholders save more when travelling abroad with the exclusive offers and discounts they enjoy when paying by card

 Visa Europe, together with its member banks in Romania, launches the foreign merchant discounts program for cardholders who use their Visa card when traveling abroad. The program offers are available for individuals and legal entities who own a Visa card. 

Everyone paying with a Visa card at participating merchants will enjoy exclusive offers and discounts up to 20% at hotels, restaurants, shops, city tours, plane tickets or car rental in some of Europe's most visited capitals, such as London or Vienna. Moreover, cardholders may receive discounts when shopping on the websites of many international brands if they pay by card. For more details on offers and participating merchants, please visit www.visa.ro/ro/taramuldeaur/oferte/oferte.aspx 

"We selected the most popular tourist destinations in Western Europe based on the Romanians' holiday preferences and taking into account the fact that almost one fourth of the total Visa card spending at merchants in 2011 was abroad, mostly in Europe. In the future, we intend to sign as many partnerships with foreign merchants as possible in order to provide highly diversified offers and discounts for Romanians when paying by card, all year round”, stated Catalin Cretu, General Manager Romania, Visa Europe. 

The main tourist destinations included in the program are UK, Austria, Spain and Germany. The program is initially launched as a pilot phase and, depending on the consumers' interest, will be updated twice a year with summer and winter offers. 

The average value of a transaction conducted abroad with a card issued in Romania is significantly higher compared to a transaction made in the country, as people spend higher amounts during vacations or business trips. Thus, if Romanians spend on average € 38.1 per Visa card transaction, this amount is approximately € 66 at foreign merchants.

In addition to the offers from abroad, the program also includes a partnership with local travel agency Veltravel whereby individuals receive up to 10% discounts when paying online with a Visa card, depending on the travel package they purchase. Moreover, anyone can enjoy a full online experience, from choosing the destination to booking and paying for the trip. Thus, they get a 5% discount when buying a plane ticket, a 7% discount for a package with a plane ticket and hotel accommodation and 10% off for booking a hotel. Tourists may also enjoy special discounts on travel insurance, low-cost plane tickets or holiday packages.

The discounts apply to all 80,000 hotel accommodation offers, in over 3,000 destinations, for plane tickets to any destination, as well as for any plane ticket-hotel-transfer-insurance combination.     

 About online payments safety

Visa Europe offers the Verified by Visa service that adds another layer of security to online transactions. Verified by Visa protects cards against unauthorised transactions and offers total confidence when shopping online.

More precisely, the cardholder who enrolled in Verified by Visa performs a transaction only after entering the password set when having initially signed up for Verified by Visa. 

The cardholders have the possibility to enrol in Verified by Visa on the website of the issuing bank or while they are shopping online, directly on the merchant's website, through Activation during Shopping (ADS). This innovative feature allows the participating issuer to deliver an instant activation message to any cardholders who are shopping online at Verified by Visa merchants.