Visa Buoys Travellers with #NotATourist Campaign

Visa, a global payments technology company, has launched #NotATourist, an innovative, regional campaign aimed at driving international tourism during holidays and rewarding holidaying card users.

The campaign is running in the Middle East and African markets including, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Senegal until end of August, 2015.

The campaign provides cardholders with real and rich destination related information to help plan their travel as well as access to Visa’s global merchant offers and exclusive promotions.

The NotATourist campaign is designed to inspire travel beyond the regular tourist sites to savour truly local experiences that are the essence of making a destination unique.

As travellers experience unforgettable moments, Visa remains the gateway to an array of offers that give cardholders the ability to maximize their joy and access to thousands of attractions that unlock the secrets of their preferred destinations. 

The campaign is poised to help travellers explore destinations as local inhabitants – not as tourists - by providing local knowledge using crowdsourced digital content that is showcased on Visa’s NotATourist website and the Visa Explore mobile app.

Downloading the Visa Explore Application from Apple Store or Google Play ensures that travellers stay informed with the most updated Visa offers and opportunities, ATM locations, and valuable information for cardholders.

The application, through a variety of sections, serves as a companion for all Visa cardholders who enjoy security, convenience, and acceptance at tens of millions of merchants worldwide.

NotATourist also offers travellers a platform to describe the many facets of a destination by sharing their own images, videos, posts and comments, making them ambassadors or tour guides of their favourite travel spots.

In Nigeria, tourists are encouraged to participate in the competition by posting pictures of themselves on twitter using the hash tag #NotATourist, name the exact location where the picture was taken and tag @VisaNigeria while sharing how Visa helped to achieve a goal at the location, to stand a chance of winning weekly prizes such as Ipads, Nikon cameras, $1000 weekly and a grand prize of a $15,000 trip to Dubai for four nights.

Visa has also set up a Hidden Treasure Quiz competition to reward customers who cannot travel this year. Pictures of interesting locations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), United States of America (USA) and the United Kingdom (UK) will be uploaded on social media and followers will be asked to name the exact location.

The pictures will be uploaded on Visa Nigeria’s social media platforms, Twitter and Facebook by 1:30pm on Tuesdays and Fridays respectively.

One winner will emerge every week from the Hidden Treasure competition winning a Nikon Cool Pix Digital Camera.

The #NotATourist campaign signifies the innovation of the Visa brand; the fifth most valuable global brand according to MillwardBrown, as it helps travellers to associate with the destinations and provokes their imagination for a memorable experience.

“Travellers often desire a taste of local culture and attractions that are hard to find in travel books or with a guided tour. The #NotATourist campaign tries to build on this desire, by connecting people and their experiences through unleashing the imagination of the traveller to interact with the beauty of the destination,” said Ade Ashaye, Visa’s general manger for West Africa.“The most important highlight of this campaign is that we are able to communicate with the hearts and minds of travellers and help them appreciate the hidden treasures of the places they visit.

“As a global payments technology company, we believe in the power and reach of mobile applications, to tap in to the large population of smart phone users, mostly millennials who can effectively influence other aspirational travellers in the same age group,” added Ashaye.

The #NotATourist campaign ties in with Visa’s efforts to promote tourism in Africa, through partnerships with government authorities, financial institutions and merchants.

In addition, Visa also invests in enhancing travel experiences through safe and convenient payment solutions, and a wide selection of benefits and privileges for travellers. 

Ashaye said,  “The Visa Global Travel Intentions Study 2015 shows that travellers are more digital-savvy than ever before, with 78% of global travellers using digital information while planning their trips, and 66% resorting to digital sources for travel tips at the destination.

"This is a phenomenal representation of the impact of digital engagement on the travel sector, and one of the main drivers for our efforts with NotATourist. Besides driving home the message of safe and convenient payments with Visa at target markets, we also want NotATourist to start a conversation with people on easy, unique and fulfilling cross-border travel.”