BEIJING: Foreigners visiting China are taking advantage of the nation’s easier-to-use mobile payment services, with the number of users and transactions soaring over the past few months, a report said.
From January to June, over 5 million inbound travelers used mobile pay services, a fourfold increase year-on-year, according to the report released by the China Internet Network Information Center on Thursday.
The travelers conducted more than 90 million transactions totaling 14 billion yuan ($1.9 billion) in the first half of this year, both of which are a sevenfold increase year-on-year, the report added.
It cited the figures as proof that China’s optimized mobile payments have provided greater convenience for foreign tourists, and it lauded some innovative measures taken by financial and telecom companies.
For example, under cooperation agreements between foreign financial institutions and the Nets Union Clearing Corporation, an enterprise affiliated with the People’s Bank of China, foreigners in China have been able to use their overseas wallet apps to make payments in China since the beginning of this year.
As of June, more than 28 million transactions were completed in this way, more than five times higher than the same period last year, according to data released by the enterprise in July.
In addition to the e-wallet service, Nets Union has also allowed overseas travelers to link their bank cards to China’s domestic payment apps, so even if foreigners in China do not have their cards with them, they can still pay for goods and services in China.
The company has served over 2 million foreign users, and the number of transactions they have made on Chinese e-commerce platforms has increased significantly, the data showed. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
