Mastercard (NYSE: MA) and Nirvana Travel and Tourism – which claims to be one of the UAE’s leading travel and tourism management companies – have joined forces in a collaboration aimed at providing a payment solution “to customers who book travel services in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan.”
This is considered to be a “game-changing” collaboration that will “further facilitate travel for both the corporate and leisure traveler, making it easier and more convenient than ever before.”
Leveraging Mastercard’s technology, the partnership is all “about digitizing the end-to-end payment experience for both consumer and commercial transactions across Nirvana’s value chain, providing customers with unmatched convenience, security and flexibility, whether they are booking flights, hotels or other travel services provided by Nirvana. In addition, corporate clients can benefit from integrated travel expense management solutions.”
Amnah Ajmal, Executive Vice President, Market Development, Eastern Europe, MENA, Mastercard, said:
“At Mastercard, we recognize travel as a key passion point, and we know that safe and secure contactless payments have an important part to drive superior customer engagement. We are delighted to collaborate with Nirvana Travel & Tourism and its group of companies, as one of the top travel agencies in the UAE, as their strategic digitalization partner, and look forward to providing their corporate and retail clients with innovative solutions for a seamless experience.”
Comprising four large-scale independent entities – Nirvana Travel & Tourism, Nirvana Global Travel, Nirvana Over the World and Nirvana Tours & Logistics, Nirvana’s group of companies is one of the UAE’s biggest homegrown online travel and logistics service providers with more than 70 branches worldwide.”
It is a leading travel agent “for Emirates and Etihad in the country and a key service provider for many UAE government entities.”
Alaa Al Ali, CEO of Nirvana Holding, said:
“We always look to develop advanced and state of the art solutions to further enhance our customer’s journey, and by collaborating with a globally renowned and customer focused name like Mastercard, I believe we can take our customer’s experience to elevated levels of excellence.”
Nirvana also says that it “offers travel management and planning, innovative corporate travel solutions, visa processing, concierge assistance, event logistics, retail and wholesale services, first-class and VIP services for diverse private, government and semi-government clients.”
The expectation for travel in 2023 is “no less than that of last year.”
According to an analysis “by the Mastercard Economics Institute, global leisure travel remains robust, up roughly 31% in March 2023 compared to the same period in 2019, representing an impressive 25% year-over-year-to-date change from 2022 to 2023., signaling continued robust demand after a strong first half of the year despite rising economic challenges.”
The ‘Travel Industry Trends 2023 report also “signals continued robust demand by the help of outbound tourism expenditures from mainland China getting closer to pre-pandemic levels. By March 2023, Chinese spending on experiences abroad surged from virtually zero last year to now just below where it was in 2019.”