China’s mobile payment leaders Alipay and WeChat payment allowed consumers who use foreign cards to use their platform when they visit China mainland.
According to Alipay’s official tweet account, Alipay announced its plans to open itself up to tourists. That means the foreign visitor can download the Alipay app in the APP store or Android store. To enjoy cashless convenience, foreign visitors need to connect the Alipay account with a prepaid international bank card. Now, Alipay allows visitors to use its platform even if the bank card is issued by foreign banks.
As to WeChat payment, WeChat plans to link its platform to five foreign credit card organisations. These organisations including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover and Japan’s JCB will support the overseas credit card service to WeChat payment.
These two giant mobile payment company only accepted Chinese bank account in the past. So foreign visitors would be required to have a Chinese bank account to use Alipay or WeChat payment. The transaction might be a little confused for international consumers. To operate a Chinese local bank card, foreign active visitors must apply and enter their personal information. Then he or she needs to purchase the credits that Chinese banks offer. Comparing to the new methods that Alipay and WeChat payment provided, new methods are simple and effective.
In the report of Dec 2019, the number of overseas visitors is more than 30 million. The number of foreign visitors number increased by 3.6% than last year. The revenue from oversea visitors reached 127.1 billion dollars in 2018. Releasing the China mobile payment platform provides a more convenient method for foreign consumers to make the payment.
