If you have an international trip on the cards between now and the end of September 2026, there is a Visa-led campaign that you genuinely cannot afford to ignore. Visa has rolled out the Visa Power Travel programme for Indian cardholders, and it stacks rewards in a way rarely seen directly from a network — irrespective of which bank issued your card.
Visa offers like these don’t come along very often. The last time we saw something this generous, direct from the network, was the contactless campaigns of the late 2010s, and even those were nowhere near as layered as this. Here is everything you need to know.
What is the Visa Power Travel Campaign?
In simple terms: Visa is paying you back on a percentage basis (in addition to whatever your credit card already rewards you with) when you swipe, tap, or withdraw cash in seven specific countries during the campaign window. Enrolment happens on a dedicated microsite – visapowertravel.com — where you authenticate/enrol your Visa card once, and your transactions from then on are automatically tracked.
The headline number being splashed across the marketing material is “up to 20% rewards”, and as we will see below, that figure is achievable, although it does require some intentional stacking. But first let’s go over the headlines:
- Campaign Period: April 20, 2026 – September 30, 2026
- Eligible Cards: All Visa consumer credit, debit & prepaid cards issued in India (commercial / business / corporate cards and corporate forex cards excluded)
- Eligible Countries where spends count: USA, UK, France, Singapore, Thailand, UAE, Vietnam
- Reward Cap: INR 50,000 per eligible card
- Rewards on offer: Air India Gift Cards or Amazon Pay E-Gift Cards
The Reward Structure: Three Stackable Layers
Every layer compounds on the next, and missing any one of them leaves real money on the table.
Layer 1: 0.5% Base Reward on Everything Overseas
Every eligible in-person POS swipe or ATM withdrawal in the seven listed destinations earns a flat 0.5% back. A USD 100 ATM withdrawal in New York earns you USD 0.50 in reward value, settled in INR at the VisaNet exchange rate on the transaction date. This is the floor — even a magstripe swipe at a roadside diner in California qualifies, as long as the card is present.
Layer 2: Additional 10% on Tap to Pay or with Visa Partner Merchants
This is where the campaign gets pumped up. Spend the same money via:
- Tap to Pay using Google Pay or Samsung Pay (your card provisioned to either wallet on an Android phone), or
- At one of the **listed Visa Partner merchants** in the eligible destinations
…and you unlock an extra 10% reward on top of the base 0.5%. That is a flat 10.5% return on those eligible transactions.
An SGD 100 contactless tap at a hawker stall in Lau Pa Sat? SGD 10.50 in reward value. Tickets to Universal Studios Singapore booked at the gate on your Visa? Same maths. Although, as an Apple consumer, I do find this hard to digest because Apple Pay is not in India for now.
Layer 3: 10% Jetsetter Milestone Bonus
Hit 20 eligible transactions and INR 1,00,000 in eligible spends during the campaign, and Visa unlocks a one-time 10% bonus on the first INR 1 lakh of spend — that’s another INR 10,000 milestone bonus.
Important footnote: ATM cash withdrawals do not count toward the milestone. Only physical card POS spends and Visa merchant partner spends contribute to both the 20-transaction count and the INR 1 lakh value. So if your travel style is “withdraw cash and pay everywhere in local currency”, you’ll earn the 0.5% base reward but won’t unlock the milestone.
Add it all up, and a heavy traveller who plans well can theoretically earn up to 20.5% back in rewards on their first INR 1 lakh of overseas spend, capped at a generous INR 50,000 per card overall.
The Eligible Destinations
The seven destinations Visa has picked map almost perfectly onto where Indians travel most:
- Singapore: the standout destination for this campaign, with the deepest partner list
- Thailand: Bangkok and Phuket-bound travellers will find this generous
- UAE: Dubai’s contactless-heavy retail scene is purpose-built for Layer 2
- United States of America, a sizeable cap of INR 50,000 helps justify a Bay Area or NYC run
- United Kingdom, London, especially, where Tap to Pay is the default
- France: Paris shopping just got more rewarding
- Vietnam: Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City for the rising number of Indian visitors
Where You Can Earn the Extra 10% (Beyond Tap to Pay)
Visa has partnered with a curated set of merchants where the 10% bonus applies to non-contactless transactions as well. But — and this is where reading the actual T&C matters — each merchant comes with very specific qualification rules. The marketing summary on the campaign site does not spell these out. Here’s the full breakdown of what actually qualifies, straight from the campaign terms:
- Singapore
- Gardens by the Bay: Only admission tickets to Flower Dome, Cloud Forest, and Floral Fantasy, bought on-site or on the Gardens by the Bay website. Food, drinks, and retail purchases inside the park do not qualify.
- Grab: Eligible Grab transactions only (statement shows `GRAB*`). Grab wallet top-ups do not qualify: you must pay directly for each ride.
- Klook: Statement description must contain `Klook`.
- Lotte Duty Free: Only in-store purchases at Changi Airport Terminals 1, 2, 3 and 4.
- Mustafa Centre: In-store at Mustafa Department Store and Mustafa Jewellery only (statement must show `Mustafa`).
- Singapore Oceanarium: Admission tickets only, bought on-site or on `rwsentosa.com`. F&B and retail excluded.
- Resorts World Sentosa: Only purchases made directly on `rwsentosa.com`**. This is the one online channel Visa officially carves out.
- Skyline Luge Sentosa: Tickets bought on-site or directly from Skyline Luge Sentosa.
- Universal Studios Singapore: Admission tickets only (on-site or rwsentosa.com). F&B and retail excluded.
- Thailand
- Grab: Statement must show `GRAB`. Wallet top-ups don’t qualify here either.
- Klook: Statement must contain `Klook`.
- King Power Duty Free: Only specific locations: Suvarnabhumi Airport, Don Mueang Airport, Phuket Airport, Chiang Mai Airport, U-Tapao Airport, plus Rangnam Downtown Complex, Phuket Downtown Complex, and City Boutique at One Bangkok.
- Gourmet Market: Only at fifteen named branches (Emporium, EmQuartier, Paragon, The Mall Lifestore Ngamwongwan / Bang Khae / Bangkapi / Thapra, The Mall Ramkhamhaeng, The Mall Korat, Terminal 21, The Promenade, The Crystal SB Ratchapruek, MRT Latphrao, Design Village Phutthamonthon, Design Village Bangna).
- Safari World Bangkok: Admission tickets only, on-site. No F&B or retail.
- UAE
- Bolt: Bolt rides and services are paid for in the UAE.
- Klook: Statement must contain `Klook`.
- France, UK, USA & Vietnam
- Klook only: Statement must contain `Klook`.
The recurring theme throughout this: Visa expects the merchant name to appear in your card statement description (`Klook`, `GRAB`, `Mustafa`, etc.). If your transaction routes through a payment gateway or aggregator that masks the merchant name in the descriptor, you may have a tracking dispute on your hands. Save your receipts.
How to Enrol and Redeem
Enrolment and redemption both happen on the campaign site. The flow is:
- Enter your 16-digit Visa card number, CVV, expiry date, and registered mobile number.
- Receive an OTP on your registered mobile and verify your card. The transactions are INR 0.01 or INR 1.
- Once authenticated, you can view your transaction summary and redeem rewards.
Rewards accrue in INR and are redeemable in INR 1,000 blocks as either Air India Gift Cards or Amazon Pay E-Gift Cards. Once redeemed, the voucher code and PIN are displayed on screen and also emailed to your registered email address.
Bottomline
The Visa Power Travel campaign is a good campaign, the kind that would do you good. A generous, stackable, no-strings-attached overseas rewards play that doesn’t discriminate by card tier. The 20.5% headline number is real, and even cardholders who don’t reach the milestone tier should be able to comfortably bank 10.5% on Tap to Pay or partner-merchant transactions.
The execution wrinkles — slow posting, the in-person-only rule, and the iPhone gap — are worth being clear-eyed about, but they don’t take away from how unusually generous this campaign is. The INR 50,000 cap per card is enough to fund a decent chunk of your next trip’s airfare via Air India vouchers, and the redemption catalogue (Air India or Amazon Pay) is among the most usable Visa has ever offered in an Indian campaign. Even a Scapia Credit Card becomes rewards earning in this case.
If you’re flying to Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai, London, Paris, New York or Vietnam between now and September 30, 2026 — enrol your cards today, take note of the partner merchants, and remember to tap, not dip, wherever you can.
What do you think of the Visa Power Travel Campaign?
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