Dubai consolidated its status as global hub for tourism, opportunity: Visa

Zawya

07-05-2025

DUBAI: Dr. Saeeda Jaffar, Senior Vice President and Group Country Manager for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region at Visa, praised Dubai's global standing, affirming that the emirate has achieved remarkable success in attracting tourists and establishing itself as a city of opportunity.
Speaking to the Emirates News Agency (WAM) on the sidelines of the third MENA Capital Markets Summit, Jaffar said, 'Dubai has succeeded in attracting visitors from around the world, encompassing diverse tourism segments such as leisure, business and medical tourism, while recording record numbers of visitors and sustained growth in spending across the city.'
She added that Dubai continues to bolster its position as a leading global destination, with an economic environment rich in opportunities. 'There is effective dialogue between the public and private sectors, which enhances competitiveness and helps attract top talent,' she said.
On the payments sector, Jaffar highlighted the rapid shift towards digital transactions in the region. 'Before COVID-19, digital payments made up less than 30 percent of total transactions, while they now account for around 70 percent across the region and in the UAE,' she noted.
'This rapid evolution reflects not only increased digitisation but also advanced levels of technology adoption. The region is among the global leaders in contactless payments, with over 90 percent of face-to-face transactions conducted through this method,' she added.
Jaffar also pointed to the UAE's strong growth in e-commerce and high mobile usage in commercial transactions, adding that the remaining cash transactions are typically simple peer-to-peer exchanges, purchases of small items or rent payments.
On technology investment and fraud prevention, she said Visa prioritises transaction security, especially in the face of increasing threats driven by generative artificial intelligence, including 'fraud as a service'.
'This has led Visa to double down on its security efforts, deploying advanced solutions,' Jaffar explained, noting that the company analyses hundreds of factors during each transaction, cross-referencing them with a database of over 300 billion global transactions to determine legitimacy.
Visa is also leveraging cutting-edge AI technologies to combat this growing threat and ensure secure user experiences.
Looking ahead, Jaffar revealed that Visa is collaborating with partners to develop an intelligent agent model capable of completing transactions on behalf of users, underlining the need to redesign the payment experience in line with evolving digital trends.