Egypt is one of the twelve global destinations to be featured on Lonely Planet's website providing expert local travel and payment information in partnership with Visa.

Cairo, Egypt: 15 August 2011- Lonely Planet and Visa have joined forces to create a travel microsite packed with expert information on destinations and the best way to access money abroad. Travelers thinking about planning their trip can now access essential information through one comprehensive resource which combines Lonely Planet and Visa's specialist knowledge.

Travelers can access the specially designed microsite at www.visa.com/lonelyplanet where they will find expert destination advice and information on how to access their cash in 12 destinations around the world: Australia, China, Croatia, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, the UAE and Ukraine.

The site is packed with essential travel services including an ATM locator, suggested trip itineraries and a calendar of events for each destination. Visitors to the site will also be able to 'Ask the Expert' questions regarding their trip and receive individual tailored responses from Lonely Planet.

It is envisioned that Visa's joint initiative with Lonely Planet will help support Egypt's tourism industry as well as the economy as a whole. In 2010, around 12.7 million tourists visited Egypt, spending EGP 57.9 billion, which constituted for over 11% of the country's GDP last year.[1] 

"At Visa, we're continually seeking opportunities to provide our cardholders with value-added benefits beyond the convenience, security and global acceptance that they've come to rely on," said Tarek Elhousseiny, Visa's General Manager for North and West Africa. "By working together with Lonely Planet, Visa has launched yet another initiative to help support tourism in Egypt which will benefit all stakeholders: local merchants and banks, those in the tourism industry as well as Visa cardholders. We look forward to exploring new ways to support tourism in Egypt and provide Visa cardholders with great benefits along the way."

Another planning tool for travelers is available on the website; a free desktop application which includes a countdown clock, local weather and currency information as well as regularly updated links to tailored promotions before departure. In addition, a series of 12 "Just Landed" destination guides are available to download from the site. The guides offer travelers essential arrival information from Lonely Planet on each of the specified destinations, including useful phrases and must see sights.

Ross Jackson, Head of Cross-Border Business for Asia Pacific, Central Europe, Middle East and Africa at Visa, said: "Our travel research[2] indicated that seven out of 10 of travelers use the internet as their primary channel for planning their holidays. The challenge though, is finding up-to-date and reliable information. By teaming up with Lonely Planet, we are able to provide trusted, accurate and up to date information for travelers to plan their holiday,"

Lonely Planet's Business Development Manager, Addy Cutts explains "Travelers often come to Lonely Planet with queries about the best way to access their money abroad and so this partnership allows us to offer our expert travel advice with specific payment detail provided by Visa. The microsite will enable travelers to access Lonely Planet's specially produced content for 12 destinations accompanied by Visa's money tips to provide travelers with detailed information on how to access their money abroad securely."

-Ends-

About Visa Inc.:
Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable digital currency. Underpinning digital currency is one of the world's most advanced processing networks--VisaNet--that is capable of handling more than 20,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and guaranteed payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank, and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: Pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com.

About Lonely Planet:
Lonely Planet's authors are independent, dedicated travellers. They visit every destination in the guide, and they don't take freebies in exchange for coverage. They personally visit thousands of hotels, restaurants, cafes, bars, galleries, palaces, museums and more - and they take pride in getting all the details right, and telling it how it is. Lonely Planet started in 1973 and has gone on to become the world's most successful travel information provider, recently printing its 100 millionth guidebook.


[1] Euromonitor International : Country Sector Briefing: Egypt- April 2011

[2] Commissioned by Visa and PATA, the 2010 Asia Pacific Travel Intentions Survey 'was an online survey conducted by Nielson in May 2010.  The survey asked 6,714 respondents from 13 key Asia Pacific travel source markets (Australia, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Mainland China, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States) about past and future travel plans. For each market, respondents were internet users, aged 18 years or above, had travelled internationally for holidays in the past two years or have the intention to do so in the next two years.

© Press Release 2011