Plan to ease foreign visitor payment headaches ahead of nation’s largest trade fair

With foreigners still struggling to obtain change for cash transactions, or even pay for museum tickets electronically, officials are seeking to make life easier for the 93,000 buyers from more than 200 countries that will attend the coming edition of China’s largest trade fair.

Tackling payment issues of foreign traders is a small, but important part of Beijing’s broader efforts to bring down barriers for foreigners in a bid to attract global tourists and businesses, as it is closely related to China’s trade prospects and post-pandemic rebound amid a set of economic headwinds.

And with the Canton Fair in Guangdong considered a barometer for China’s export market and the stamina of its supply chain, the event represents a chance to follow up on a pledge issued by the State Council last month to offer greater acceptance of cash and overseas bank cards, while also easing the limits on mobile payments for foreigners.

“We will set foreign currency exchange machines and mobile [point of sale] terminals to cater to the diverse payment needs of exhibitors and buyers, including currency exchange, digital payments, card transactions, mobile payments and cash payments,” commerce viceminister Wang Shouwen said earlier this week ahead of the 135th edition of the fair, which begins on April 15.

Wang said cash accounted for more than 50 per cent of payments by overseas buyers in Guangzhou, followed by 33 per cent for mobile payments and 15 per cent for bank cards.

He confirmed that the semi-annual fair had received preregistration by 93,000 buyers from 215 countries, with more than 220 leading enterprises also confirming delegations.

“These figures surpass the scale of previous sessions for the same period,” he said.

French tourist Raphael Granier said some stores had been unable to provide enough change for large bank notes during his recent visit to southwest China.

“I didn’t get WeChat Pay,” said Granier, who added some stores were unable to provide enough change.

“Some services, such as receiving money from a friend, required me to have a Chinese bank card, which is not feasible in my case.”

Yan Fang, deputy director of the Payment and Settlement Department at the central bank, said commercial banks in Guangzhou had introduced a “change bag” cash service – totalling 200 yuan (HK$216) to 500 yuan – which it would promote in sectors such as taxi services to facilitate cash transactions.

Yan said more than 900,000 inbound travellers used mobile payments during the first two months of the year, producing over 20 million transactions totalling more than 3 billion yuan in value.

93,000

Number of buyers, from more than 200 countries, that are expected to attend the coming edition of the Canton Fair