Sri Lanka first Priceless City in South Asia with Mastercard

Friday, 31 January 2020 00:30 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Darshana Abayasingha

Leading global payments and technology services provider, Mastercard, bestowed Sri Lanka the honour of becoming the first market in South Asia to be added to its prestigious Priceless Cities program.

Sri Lanka and Maldives for Mastercard Country Manager R. B. Santosh Kumar

South Asia Mastercard Vice President and Head of Marketing Manasi Narasimhan

Priceless Cities is a program exclusively available to Mastercard cardholders and provides customers access to unique unforgettable experiences to cardholders and their families. The Priceless Cities program was first launched in New York City in 2011, and the privilege has only been shared with just over 40 cities globally, including London, Singapore, Melbourne, Sao Paulo, Toronto, Dubai and others. Sri Lanka is the latest addition to this prestigious list, and is the first and only South Asian destination on the list.

Speaking to the Daily FT, Mastercard Vice President and Head of Marketing and Communications, South Asia Mansi Narasimhan said: “Priceless Cities is a global platform. So what it does is it opens up Sri Lanka as a destination to our cardholders everywhere in the world. A lot of people don’t know about Sri Lanka and what it offers. This will generate a lot on interest in Sri Lanka as a destination and showcase the variety available here. Overtime that will start physically driving traffic into the country. Initially we expect it will probably come from Asia like India, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. This is just the start, and as we go along we hope to partner with the Tourism Board and our service partners and keep creating more and more experiences. It’s a win-win partnership overall. This is a commitment we are making that we will continue to invest in and continue to generate priceless experiences in Sri Lanka.”

Mastercard believes that experiences are the currency that drives people, and as affluence grows people are willing to spend on truly exclusive experiences that indulge in their passions. The criteria for Priceless Cities are experiences that are truly exclusive which money can’t buy. These are custom created for Mastercard cardholders. For example, during the Australian Open which is currently underway in Melbourne, some Mastercard customers get to go on behind the scenes tour of the Rod Laver Arena, which is otherwise not open to the public.

“So that’s the criteria for Priceless experiences, and for a city to qualify you need to have minimum thresholds, you can’t have just one great experience, and it has to be around multiple passion points. In Sri Lanka, we have a couple around tea and food, wild life and photography and one around adventure. All of those have an element which is not available in the market,” Narasimhan adds.

The Priceless Cities program is available exclusively to Mastercard Cardholders around the world, and provides access to unique and unforgettable experiences across over 40 iconic cities. Other global experiences include behind the scenes access to the Singapore Grand Prix, helicopter tours of Great Wall of China, private dining in Prague and much more.

“Sri Lanka is at the unique advantage of offering multiple activities within the country, offering great convenience and charm, which inspired us to develop Mastercard’s first ever Priceless campaign for South Asia, and the country will remain a strategic focus for Mastercard,” added Mastercard Sri Lanka Country Manager Santosh Kumar.