Visa
Simple purchase. Profound impact.
Visa is powering the future of global payments by enabling seamless transactions between travelers and local business owners around the world.
They asked Skift to create a narrative to position them as the payment provider that’s not only transforming cross-border spending, but doing so in a way that positively impacts business owners in emerging tourism destinations.
Industry
Financial Services, Travel
Elements
Video, Microsite
My Role
Overall concept, content direction, and program execution
To tell that story, we asked 11 travel industry executives from companies like Carnival Cruises, Airbnb, Marriott, and more to recount their most memorable purchase while traveling internationally in How I Spend Abroad.
The video series captured a fun, relatable side to C-level executives through first-hand stories of their personal travel journeys, misadventures, and inspiring moments of human connection shared over an appreciation of culture, craft, and commerce. The series revealed how a simple souvenir purchase can have a profound and lasting impact, calling to attention the travel industry’s opportunity to act as a force for good.
“Travel fundamentally brings people together. It's all about the human spirit.”
— Arnold Donald
CEO, Carnival Corporation
Selection of videos from the series. See them all here.
Arnold Donald
CEO, Carnival Corporation
Harsha L'Acqua
CEO, Saira Hospitality
Steve Kaufer
President & CEO, TripAdvisor
Carla Campos
Executive Director, Puerto Rico Tourism Company
“When I spend money when I travel, most of it is on food. It’s a great way to spend money. You don’t have to bring anything back on the plane and it just goes directly into the local economy.”
— Eric Breon
Founder & CEO, Vacasa
Tourism isn’t perfect, but there's no arguing that it can often be a force for good. Spending locally while abroad is one way travelers can be a part of the positive aspects of tourism.
Making a meaningful purchase, rather than buying a simple souvenir, can provide economic opportunity, support sustainability, and perhaps most uniquely — forge a connection between travelers and locals over shared cultural appreciation.
Skift asked 11 industry executives about their most memorable purchase abroad and the impact it’s had on their worldview.
From a hand-carved ceramic jaguar in Mexico to samurai swordsmanship lessons in Japan, How I Spend Abroad offers a rare, personal glimpse into the spending habits of some of the travel industry’s top executives:
Arnold Donald - CEO, Carnival Corporation
Jen Rubio - President & Chief Brand Officer, Away
Eric Breon - Founder & CEO, Vacasa
Arthur Orduna - Chief Innovation Officer, Avis
Steve Kaufer - CEO TripAdvisor
Carla Campos - CMO, Puerto Rico Tourism Company
Leeny Oberg - CFO, Marriott
Cheryl Rutenberg -SVP, Travel, Visa
Harsha L'Acqua - CEO, Saira Hospitality
Andrea Bonilla - Co-founder, Cayuga Sustainable Hospitality
Sam Shank - Head of Hotels, Airbnb and CEO of HotelTonight
Authentic and relatable, How I Spend Abroad illustrates how a simple travel purchase can make even the most seasoned industry executives feel a greater sense of connectedness to people, culture, and places around the world.
“I genuinely believe that tourism is a force for good.”
— Carla Campos
Executive Director, Puerto Rico Tourism Company
Credits
Concept and Direction | Matt Heidkamp
Design | Andrea Yang-Yanez
Creative | Dawn Rzeznikiewicz
Interviews | Grant Martin
Video | Jose Marmolejos
Development | Minhee Park
Account | Lisa Weier Parilla