The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The number of Nassau/Paradise Island retailers participating in MasterCard’s "Priceless Bahamas" has "more than doubled" since its launch in 2008, according to regional executives, who said the programme was helping the Bahamas move to a cashless society.

The programme which began with 36 merchants, was initially called the 'Find Your Way' programme and eventually evolved into Priceless Bahamas with participating merchants representing various categories including culinary, sports, lodging, travel, culture, the arts and shopping.

Last week it was announced that MasterCard had partnered with the Ministry of Tourism to become the official card of the Bahamas. The partnership, according to Lorena Holguin, VP of Marketing for MasterCard in the Caribbean, will provide opportunities for MasterCard to leverage its Priceless Bahamas to more international visitors through Ministry of Tourism promotions.

"In the programme today we have 85 merchants and the majority are located in Nassau/Paradise Island. And we have an evolution and expansion of our programme in Grand Bahamas with 15 merchants. We have been evaluating some other opportunities as to how can we leverage what we have been doing and that's where the partnership came in,” Ms Holguin said.

She added: "Having an official card in the Bahamas and the partnership will give opportunities to leverage our programme and develop some opportunities for what the Ministry of Tourism is doing in the Bahamas and outside of the Bahamas."

Ray Merceron, MasterCard territory head for the western Caribbean, said: "In terms of the success of the programme, I think the number of merchants really says it all. We have had an evolution over the years where we have almost doubled the number of merchants we have had since the introduction of the programme. The merchants really love the programme – it's helping them through various marketing channels to get their shops out there. I think that's where the value of the programme is with helping the merchants."

Mr Merceron added: "It's helping the Bahamas move from a cash to a more cashless society. We are seeing that as tourists come in they want to use the card as opposed to cash. Enabling the merchants to be able to give experiences and discounts for using electronic means of payment as opposed to cash is definitely a big plus for the merchant. We incentivize the tourists by giving them discounts and offering experiences through other merchants."