3 Top Quotes About the Future of Seamless Travel From MasterCard’s CMO

Raja Rajamannar, Global CMO of MasterCard, spoke today at the Skift Global Forum.

Raja Rajamannar is chief marketing officer (CMO) for MasterCard. In this role, he has global responsibility for advertising, sponsorships, promotions, research, insights, and digital and consumer marketing initiatives.

Mr. Rajamannar has an extensive background in the payments industry, proven global marketing expertise, and rich international experience. A truly global citizen, he has lived and worked all over the world, including posts in India, Dubai, London, New York and Chicago, as well as Louisville, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Ohio.

Rajamannar discussed seamless and cashless travel with Carmen Rita Wong, the President and Founder of Malecon Productions. Here are three things we learned:

Rajamannar talked about three trends that MasterCard has gleamed from its wealth of data. These trends include a rise of cities as the top destinations, the decline of cash and fewer vacations.

He says, “We have seen the rapid decline of cash in travel because travel has become concentrated more and more towards cities. What’s happening this is changing the dynamic of where and how transactions are happening.”

He also announced the expansion of Priceless Cities, a program that gives MasterCard holders access to private events, to 36 cities including Munich, Las Vegas and Tokyo being added by December 2014.

“One of the things we have done, since 17 years back, is this concept of priceless. When everyone was talking about products and their features, we went a different path. We said things do matter in life but these priceless moments in people’s lives matter more. Seventeen years later, we’ve seen how we actually enable and create priceless experiences in people’s lives.”

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