JEDDAH — MasterCard announced today the official launch of its Priceless Arabia campaign, which brings the global Priceless Cities program to the Middle East and North Africa for the first time. Dedicated to bringing consumers closer to their passions and facilitating their travel and shopping experience, the highly popular campaign recognizes and celebrates the entire region. Whether it is embracing history and archaeological wonders at Petra in Jordan, or following tracing the paths of Pharaohs in Egypt, or discovering the natural beauty hidden in Oman, or experiencing the very best and luxurious that Dubai has to offer, Priceless Arabia will give cardholders unique experiences in part of the world's most diverse and exciting regions. Travel, attractions, sports, dining, shopping, and entertainment are at the heart of the campaign, and cardholders can avail exclusive offers and experiences in the United Arabian Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Lebanon, Morocco, Kuwait and Bahrain. "With its rich cultural heritage and booming tourism and travel sector, the Middle East is the ideal market to introduce our latest Priceless Cities campaign, which stresses the importance of memorable experiences rather than material things," said Raghu Malhotra, division president of MasterCard Middle East and North Africa. He added: "The Arab region shares many commonalities among its diverse population with its common language, cultural similarities and high inter-regional travel habits. It is these similarities that inspired us to develop MasterCard's first ever region-wide Priceless Arabia campaign as a natural evolution of the global Priceless Cities program that we have launched in other markets. This region will remain a strategic focus for MasterCard and as the program develops we will be creating even more priceless opportunities for both residents and overseas visitors." Eslam Darwish, head of marketing at MasterCard, Middle East and North Africa, said: "We are delighted to introduce the Priceless Cities platform to our regional consumers, whose loyalty and engagement were the main motivation behind our initiative. “This roll-out demonstrates our continuous efforts to align ourselves with local audiences, and showcases our strong support of one of the world's most iconic regions. “We are working closely with our local partners to further the region's reputation as a global destination by creating unique experiences for residents and tourists. “At MasterCard, we have always believed that experiences are more important than material things and our cardholders can now make their experience in Arabia even more Priceless.” — SG
