BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 16. Mastercard is ready to support the promotion of Kazakhstan as a tourist destination, Rafal Trepka, CEO of Mastercard in Central Asia, told Trend.
"Mastercard is a key technology partner to the global travel and tourism industry, offering solutions, expertise and consulting both globally and locally. Our data shows that the travel industry has bounced back following the coronavirus pandemic, with people around the world wanting to travel more, explore new destinations and gain invaluable experiences," he said.
As Rafal Trepka noted, Kazakhstan has impressive opportunities for the development of all types of tourism.
"We actively cooperate with various organizations - city halls, national companies in the field of tourism. We provide Kazakhstani partners with access to our Data Tourism Insights Platform, which allows them to use analytics to develop foreign and domestic tourism in the country. We are also ready to provide technology and global expertise in the implementation of various programs and promote Kazakhstan as a touristic destination among the 2.3 billion Mastercard holders in the world through the Priceless.com platform. Furthermore, we are confident that thanks to our cooperation with partners from Kazakhstan, the tourism industry in the country will soon realize its enormous potential," he added.
Earlier, the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation, and Aerospace Industry of Kazakhstan and Mastercard signed a Cooperation Agreement under which Mastercard, with the advisory support of the Ministry, intends to develop and implement a five-year digital partnership program in Kazakhstan (Kazakhstan Digital Country Partnership).
Cooperation will include initiatives such as: promoting the Kazakh GovTech model through Mastercard's global network; increasing access to financial services through digitalization of payments in various areas; cooperation in the promotion and development of IT exports, e-commerce, digitalization of SMEs, and the fintech ecosystem; supporting Kazakhstan's smart cities program, with a particular emphasis on the tourism and urban transportation sectors and so on.
Mastercard is a leading global technology company with more than 2.3 billion account holders in 210 countries. The organization has a market capitalization of over $390 billion and is ranked among the top 10 most valuable global brands in the world according to Kantar, 2023.
