Major cities develop, add payment options for foreign visitors

Major Chinese cities like Beijing and Shanghai have stepped up efforts to improve means of payment for foreign travelers, a move to promote inbound tourism and high-level opening-up.

Shanghai, frequently picked up by overseas visitors as their first stop to China for business, study or sightseeing, will optimize payment service linked with bank cards, promote the use of cash and facilitate mobile payment to meet the diverse preferences of foreigners, Hua Yuan, vice mayor of Shanghai, told a press conference.

“We have improved the cross-border payment functions of UnionPay, Alipay and WeChat Pay to facilitate mobile payments on the side of Chinese merchants. UnionPay can support users of more than 180 overseas wallets to make payments, and Alipay can support e-wallets from 10 countries and regions to make payments in China, Hua said on Thursday.

In terms of bank cards, the city has newly opened more than 37,000 foreign card pointof-sale (POS) terminals, covering sites of commerce, culture and tourism, and airports.

On Tuesday, the Beijing municipal government released an action plan to optimize its payment services.

The capital city will continue to improve the user-friendly level and convenience of payments such as mobile payments, bank cards and cash. As of the end of December, the city will have basically solved the payment difficulties of elderly people, foreigners coming to Beijing and other groups.

“By installing new foreign card POS machines and promoting the facilitation of payments, these cities have provided a more convenient and efficient payment environment for foreign tourists,” said Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences.

“These measures have also promoted consumption and expanded domestic demand, further boosting economic growth,” Wang said.