Thanks to Visa, Your 2010 FIFA World Cup TM Trip is Only 40 Days Away, but how Will Your Travel Plans Fare?

    ST HELIER, Jersey, April 30, 2010 /PRNewswire/ --

    - First Game Just 40 Days Away
    - Are Your Travel and Hospitality Plans Finalised?
    - What Difference Could a Concierge Service Make?

For football fans everywhere, the event of a lifetime is now less than two months away, but once you arrive in South Africa, will your travel plans shape up, or will the contents of your wallet turn out to be your Achilles heel?

More than 460,000 Britons visit South Africa every year, according to the South African government's statistics. This year's FIFA World Cup TM will be staged across eight provinces in nine host cities, with half a million visitors expected to attend the matches. With new reports issued by the South African Ministry of Tourism painting a positive picture of the hotels infrastructure, most visits can be expected to be trouble free.

However, as with any major expedition, good planning is essential and can help to avoid any problems which might arise. UK Foreign Office data reveals that many Britons travelling abroad are likely at some point to need help with lost or stolen passports and those who may be sensitive to local cuisine will feel more comfortable, if they know a reliable, local GP can be easily accessed.

Although many UK and foreign travellers will welcome the fact that the main language spoken in South Africa is English, there is no doubt that just moving around between matches, with some venues over 1000 miles apart will present a unique set of challenges. Arriving at your destination, who would you turn to, if you need to book a good restaurant or arrange a business meeting around a match?

Clients of Abbey International (http://www.abbeyinternational.com/) in possession of their recently launched Abbey International Visa Infinite card (http://www.abbeyinternational.com/VisaInfiniteCard.asp) will certainly not have to face this particular issue, coming as it does with a range of concierge services (http://www.abbeyinternational.com/VisaInfiniteCard.asp) designed to meet the most demanding brief. Arriving in a new city and needing to find your way around quickly, concierge services, tailored to the customer's needs, can provide the 'inside track' on where to go and what to do. In addition, concierge services can offer an extra pair of hands in a busy person's schedule - booking tickets, finding information or even getting a babysitter.

With an exclusive range of benefits, the Abbey International Visa Infinite card (http://www.abbeyinternational.com/VisaInfiniteCard.asp) has been designed to give clients enhanced levels of cover, particularly for a more discerning and demanding demographic. The card also provides holders with Airport Angel membership, giving cardholders and their guests access to over 400 airport lounges and a range of flight related information services, such as text based alerts.

Before travelling, Abbey International Visa Infinite cardholders have access to a special pre-departure hotline which advises on passport and inoculation requirements, together with local country information, as well as the latest currency exchange rates, all of which could be essential information, if additional travel between the matches is planned. Whilst the cardholder is abroad, they are provided with a whole host of additional services to make their lives easier. If emergency cash is needed or a wallet lost, the cardholder will be provided with funds and they can also be given local legal advice, should it be necessary. In addition, phone based interpreting services are provided 24/7 to help clients who may be experiencing language barriers, although in South Africa, this should not generally be a problem for English speakers. In case of loss or theft of a passport, visa or airline tickets, the service provides all the necessary information to obtain the replacement documents. The lifestyle service can also be used to relay messages to friends, relatives and business associates in their country of residence and can even organise helicopters and private jets, should they be necessary.

The level of detail which can be provided is considerable: taking the example of restaurants, location, type of cuisine, even dress code, prices and menu options can all be given in advance, so cardholders knows exactly what to expect.

South Africa's private health sector has a good reputation for delivering world class care, but is generally only available to those with private medical insurance. For Abbey International Visa Infinite cardholders, medical insurance is included in case of an emergency overseas. If a hospital stay is required, the Travel Assistance programme monitors the cardholder's treatment, progress and the quality of medical attention, until their safe return home. In addition the service can provide updates to friends, family and employers or business colleagues.

The medical assistance service ranges from providing a GP to visit the hotel or person's place of residence to the provision of a specialist healthcare practitioner. The service's expert advice ensures the most appropriate physician is chosen and allowable charges are met. The cardholder will be given contact details of the appropriate professional together with key information such as languages spoken, for example. The service can also help cardholders replace lost or misplaced medication or eyewear by first endeavouring to find a local resource for replacement or, if necessary, by arranging a fresh shipment.

For the discerning football fan, then, packing your Abbey International Visa Infinite card is a must, if you want your football holiday of a lifetime to flow better. The Abbey International Visa Infinite card is available (http://www.abbeyinternational.com/gold.asp) to those clients with at least GBP100,000 on deposit, but if there is over GBP250,000 in the account, all card membership fees are waived.

Jane Matthews, Head of Client Experience at Abbey International said: "South Africa is a tremendously exciting destination, with a huge variety of activities likely to be taking place around the football. Clients who are intending to travel around the country will want to get the very best from their trip and that is where our Abbey International Visa Infinite card with its Lifestyle service is second to none in its attention to detail and coverage. We are confident these services will help make our clients' trips to South Africa easier, more enjoyable and less stressful."

For further information on banking with Abbey International in Jersey call +44(0)1534-828-828 or log onto http://www.abbeyinternational.com

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Notes to Editors:

Abbey International is located in Jersey, a secure, well-established and politically stable financial centre, which is renowned internationally for its high standards of regulation. Jersey's unique constitution and relationship with the British Crown dates back hundreds of years. This provides for a unique legal and neutral tax system that can provide significant wealth planning opportunities for the international investor.

Abbey international has a minimum balance entry requirement of GBP50,000 (or currency equivalent) across our portfolio of products. The minimum balance amount can be spread across a range of accounts, subject to the minimum opening deposit for each account being met.

All deposits carry the full and unconditional guarantee of Santander UK plc, itself a wholly owned subsidiary of the Santander Group.

Santander has more than 150 years' experience in banking and more branches worldwide than any other international bank.

About Banco Santander

Banco Santander (SAN.MC, STD.N, BNC.LN) is a retail and commercial bank, based in Spain, with presence in 10 main markets. At the end of 2008, Santander was the largest bank in the euro zone by market capitalization and third in the world by profit. Founded in 1857, Santander had EUR 1,271 billion in managed funds at the end of 2008. Following the acquisition of Sovereign Bancorp. of the U.S. in January 2009, Santander had 90 million customers, around 14,000 branches - more than any other international bank - and over 170,000 employees. It is the largest financial group in Spain and Latin America, with leading positions in the United Kingdom and Portugal and a broad presence in Europe through its Santander Consumer Finance arm. In the first half of 2009, Santander registered EUR4,519 million in net attributable profit.

In the UK, Santander operates two retail businesses - Santander, which was formed out of the Abbey and Bradford & Bingley retail network, and Alliance & Leicester. Together they have over 1300 branches, around 4,500 cash machines and they provide a full range of retail and corporate banking services to 25 million customers.

    Alliance & Leicester will become known as Santander by the end of 2010.

    Media Contacts:

    Guy Stephenson/Jennifer Duffy
    Nacelle Ltd
    +44(0)20-8333-9125
    [email protected]

    Jane Matthews, Abbey International, Head of Client Experience
    +44(0)1534-828137
    [email protected]

SOURCE Abbey International