Kenya Tourism Board, UBA Bank launch prepaid travel card

The Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) is launching a new prepaid travel card in a bid to promote domestic tourism to travellers from West Africa.

In partnership with United Bank for Africa (UBA), KTB has designed a loyalty programme, with cardholders able to accumulate and transfer points for use within Kenya within the hospitality sector, as well as being eligible for discounts and giveaways.

“We are targeting the West African market. We are rolling this card out initially in Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal. These are important markets to us and they are serviced by our national carrier Kenya Airways,” Jimi Kariuki, chair of Kenya Tourism Board, said at the launch in Nairobi yesterday.

“This will enable all users – whether customers of UBA or not – to have unparalleled access to its built-in benefits available across all platforms.”

The Magical Kenya Prepaid Travel Card will target West African nationals who travel for corporate, educational, medical as well as leisure purposes within Africa and will be distributed through UBA’s platform to customers and potential customers.

Isaac Mwige, chief executive of UBA Bank, said that tourists are increasingly looking for ways to compare prices and in a way that is accessible via new technologies, whether it’s on mobile phones or via social media networks.

“By leveraging on innovative solutions provided by services such as the Magical Kenya Travel Card, tourism can not only lead the new frontier of fairer, stronger and more sustainable growth, but has the potential to become of one the most effective agents of development,” he said.

The loyalty program on the card and merchant affiliation will be managed by eGiftAfrica, a brand of Giift.com.

“We are very excited to partner with the Kenya Tourism Board on the launch of this card.  We aim to create a successful loyalty program around this card and make it usable by everyone, creating a win win for the consumer and the participating merchants,” said eGift Africa CEO Sharouk Jiwa.

Through this partnership, Magical Kenya Prepaid Card Members will be able to access offers, rewards and discounts at these merchants through payments made with their prepaid card.