Visa Steps Into Travel — and Into Competition With Its Own Card Issuers

Visa has launched Visa Destinations, a consumer-facing travel platform offering cardholders curated experiences, dining, and shopping across 10 cities, including Paris, London, Dubai, and New York. There’s also a link to the pre-existing Visa Luxury Hotel Collection.

Visa has numerous partners, including Smart Media Technologies, which powers the site, as well as Trip.com, the Star Alliance, and Tiqets, which Expedia agreed to acquire last December. Viator is an advertiser.

Visa also has many direct partnerships with attractions and restaurants, including the Louvre, Disneyland Paris, and Printemps Paris, a department store chain. Popular tourist attractions are particularly tough companies to partner with and these relationships are much-sought after.

Unlike most travel websites where users input their desired dates and destinations, Visa Destinations is organized around in-destination experiences and restaurants. Visa cardholders from virtua