As the hospitality and tourism sectors across the GCC undergo rapid transformation, Visa is playing a pivotal role in accelerating its growth. By leveraging deep data insights and evolving consumer behavior trends, Visa is empowering businesses, and travelers with seamless payment solutions, strategic partnerships, and personalized experiences. From exclusive travel perks to secure digital payment innovations, Visa is helping shape a smarter, more connected tourism ecosystem across the region.
How is Visa leveraging data and consumer behavior insights to support the growth of the hospitality and tourism sectors across the GCC?
leverages data and consumer behavior insights to support the growth of the hospitality and tourism sectors across the GCC by enhancing the travel experience from planningtopost-tripanalysis.
Recognizing that travel begins with a dream, Visa inspires cardholders to explore new destinations through unique offers and strategic partnerships. Collaborations with partners provide attractive deals on hotel bookings and car rentals, supported by premium concierge services to curatememorablevacations. VisaNet, Visa’s global network, offers unique data and insights into cardholder spending behavior.
These insights are shared with tourism boards, local businesses, and financial institutions, enabling informed decision-making, personalized experiences, and optimized services for residents and international visitors.
For instance, Visa’s Q4 2024 Travel Pulse report, “Eventful Travels”, analyzed the major events that significantly boost tourism. The Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix recorded a 34 percent year-on-year increase in visitor spending, with 133,000 Visa cardholders traveling to Abu Dhabi. The event’s impact reached beyond the capital, with 62 percent of visitors also spending in Dubai and Sharjah, highlighting how major events can drive economicbenefitsacrossthebroaderregion.
Similarly, Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Season in Q4-2024 attracted over 550,000 international cardholders from 195 countries, resulting in a 47.6 percent year-on-year growth.
Visa tracks both seasonal trends, like Ramadan, and hyper-local moments, such as Dubai’s viral FIX chocolate, to better understand shifts in consumer spending. In Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, transaction volumes doubled between 10PM and 4AM during Ramadan, reflecting the region’s late-night shopping and dining culture. In the final 10 days leading up to Eid, spending surged across key categories, with luxury retail transactions in Saudi Arabia tripling. Visa’s value goes beyond payments – by transforming transaction data into meaningful intelligence, we help our partners stay ahead of emerging trends and shape agile, relevant tourism strategies across the region.
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In what ways have Visa’s strategic partnerships contributed to advancing the GCC’s tourism agenda, especially in diversifying economies beyond oil?
As travelers increasingly seek personalized and meaningful experiences, Visa is strategically partnering with key players across the GCC to provide seamless, secure, and innovative payment solutions that enhance every stage of the travel journey. In the UAE, our partnerships with leading airlines like Emirates and Etihad help us deliver tailored travel benefits from bonus air miles and travel insurance to lounge access and rewards points through co-branded cards that align with evolving customer preferences.
Beyond airlines, we’ve partnered with hospitality leaders such as Booking.com, Agoda, IHG, Jumeirah Hotels and the Visa Luxury Hotel Collection to give cardholders access to exclusive perks that elevate their experience and boost regional tourism spend.
We’re also supporting emerging segments like healthcare tourism. The UAE now accounts for 80 percent of the GCC’s medical tourism spend, which has doubled over the past year. To support this trend, Visa teamed up with the Dubai Health Authority to offer discounts on medical services, helping drive international footfall and economic activity in the sector.
How do you see the travel and tourism industry in the GCC evolving over the next five years, and what role do you envision Visa playing in that journey?
The travel and tourism industry in the GCC is poised for transformative growth over the next five years, driven by ambitious government-led initiatives, evolving consumer behaviors, and the increasing adoption of digital payments. Major infrastructure projects such as the Al Maktoum International Airport in the UAE, which is set to accommodate 260 million passengers annually, and Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which aims to welcome 150 million visitors annually, are keydriversofthisgrowth.
Traveler preferences in the region are also shifting. According to Visa’s Global Travel Intentions (GTI) Study, over 70 percent of GCC travelers prefer digital wallets, a trend that reflects the growing demand for seamless and secure payment experiences.
The rapid transition to digital payments has seen cash use fall to just 25-30 percent of transactions, down from more than 50 percent pre-COVID. In the GCC, nearly 98 percent of face-to-face transactions are now contactless, highlighting how deeply embedded digital payments have become in everyday life.
Moreover, traveler behavior in the GCC is also evolving, with preferences shifting toward longer stays and more immersive experiences. Authentic, experiential travel has taken over traditional shopping-focused trips, resulting in nearly doubled travel expenditures in recent years.
Visa is uniquely positioned to support and accelerate this growth. With a presence in over 200 countries and territories, Visa connects nearly 15,000 banks and around 130 million merchants globally, ensuring payment acceptance and transactionsecuritywherevertravelersgo.
With digital payments becoming more seamless for international travelers, what initiatives is Visa focusing on to enhance the travel experience in theregion?
As digital payments redefine the travel experience, Visa is committed to making them more seamless, secure, and rewarding for travelers across the GCC. While travelers increasingly go cashless, Visa is focused on addressing common concerns such as card acceptance, currency conversion fees, and the risk of card declines. According to the GTI study, many travelers from the UAE and Saudi Arabia express anxiety over these issues, underscoring the need for payment solutions that offer reliability and transparency.
To meet this demand, Visa leverages advanced technologies like Visa Payment Passkey, which simplifies secure transactions through biometric authentication, eliminating the need for traditional OTPs. Similarly, Click-to-Pay streamlines online checkout without requiring passwords or manual entry of payment details. For GCC travelers who often use multiple cards, Flex Credentials consolidates payment methods, automatically selecting the most suitable option based on the context, enhancing both convenience and security.
Visa+ is another innovative service that aims to enhance travel experience by enabling seamless cross-border person-to-person (P2P) payments. This service allows travelers to send and receive money internationally with ease, bypassing traditional banking hurdles.
Whether settling shared expenses or sending funds to friends and family, Visa+ ensures that users can manage their finances effortlessly while traveling.
With the growing reliance on digital payments comes the risk of cybersecurity threats. To combat this, Visa has invested over $10 billion globally in technology, with $500 million dedicated to artificial intelligence, ensuring the highest level of transaction security and reinforcing its role as a trusted partner in the digital travel ecosystem.
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