Card Briefs: Cobranded Visa Card to Aid China Tourism

A Chinese bank and a travel company have introduced a cobranded Visa card to help promote the Visit China '97 tourism campaign.

People who use the Intec Dragon Visa cards-Intec Information Network Center is a national travel and entertainment booking service-can get 20% discounts on hotels and 30% on restaurants and on air fares from Intec- designated travel agencies.

The issuer, China Construction Bank, said it expects to issue 50,000 Intec Dragon cards in Beijing by midyear.

The bank said it will also work with Intec to set up a travel-consulting service, which will offer cardholder assistance and in turn work with several government and consumer agencies to monitor merchants' service quality.

Separately, Visa announced that Asia Commercial Bank of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, had become a principal member of the association. Principal membership includes full issuing and merchant-servicing privileges.

Visa said that after eight years in Vietnam, its market share exceeds 50%. Given the early stage of payment-system development-only 1,700 merchants accept the card in a country of 72 million people-Vietnam could "leapfrog" past other nations, said Richard Chang, Visa vice president and senior country manager.

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