Visa at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games

Games-goers can use Visa cards at more than 800 sites and ATMs in select Games venues and throughout Vancouver and Whistler

VANCOUVER , Feb. 12 /CNW/ - Visa has been a Worldwide Olympic Games Sponsor since 1986, and is the Exclusive Payment Card and Official Payment Network of the Olympic Games. As the only payment card accepted, Visa credit, debit, and prepaid cards or cash must be used to purchase Olympic tickets, official Games merchandise, or food and beverages in venues.

At every Olympic Games, Visa creates and manages the entire payment system infrastructure and network throughout all Olympic venues.

For the 2010 Winter Games, Visa will deploy over 800 hundred point-of-sale (POS) devices in some 250 Vancouver 2010 merchant locations in venues, including all sports competition stadia, the International Broadcast Centre, the Main Press Centre, the Olympic and Paralympic Villages in Vancouver and Whistler and the Olympic Superstore. Visa also will install several ATMs within the Games footprint and, for the convenience of visitors attending the Games, have two roving mobile ATMs available that accept Visa cards.

Visa card products - credit, debit, prepaid card and Visa electron - will be accepted at POS card acceptance devices and ATMs in Olympic venues. Visitors can also withdraw cash at more than 3,000 ATMs in the greater Vancouver area and at more than 60 ATMs in Whistler. There are some 5,000 retailers, restaurants and service providers in and around the Vancouver and Whistler areas that accept Visa cards.

For the convenience of all those attending the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, Visa has created a special series of Visa prepaid cards that includes images of athletes in eight Olympic and two Paralympic Winter Games events including ice hockey, snowboard, alpine skiing, ice sledge hockey and curling. The cards use vibrantly-coloured art images of athletes in motion to portray sports of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and to commemorate the achievements and challenges of everyone involved in sports.

The Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games-themed Visa prepaid cards are being offered by many of Visa's Canadian financial institution clients including RBC, Scotiabank branches in British Columbia, Vancity and Citizens Bank of Canada . They also are available at all Canada Safeway stores, Money Mart, Shoppers Drug Mart, 7-11 and several other retailers. Visa prepaid cards range in value from as little as $25 up to $750 or more. Some cards have the denomination printed on the front, while others do not. Many Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games-themed prepaid cards will not have a customer name printed on the front.

The special Games-themed cards can be used wherever Visa cards are electronically accepted including in all Olympic venues to purchase merchandise or at ATMs as well as at all Visa merchants in Vancouver and Whistler. Visa prepaid cards make ideal gifts for all ages, especially for the sports-minded on holiday shopping lists, and they are a unique Visa Olympic Games collectible.

To access cash using a Visa card at an ATM, cardholders are advised to set up a personal identification number (PIN) with their Visa-issuing financial institution before they travel. And, it's always a good idea to tell your financial institution that you plan to travel internationally before leaving home.

Visa's Global Consumer Assistance Centre will be staffed with multilingual Visa personnel who can provide a variety of card payment-related services, including replacement of lost or stolen cards, Visa Travellers Cheques or Visa Travel Money by calling 1-800-847-2199 or 1-800-VISA-199. Other services include information about and help with lost/stolen passports, police and hospital services, shopping, transport, dining and tourism, and ATM locations.

For further information: concerning Visa and the Olympic Games, please contact Nancy Panter at [phone] or Teri Broughton at [phone]. More sponsorship information is available at www.visa.com/olympicmediakit. Current Visa Go World advertising, video, and photo materials are available at www.thenewsmarket.com/visa