Global Courant
TIANJIN – Visitors to China will soon be able to pay for just about anything in the country by using the ubiquitous super app WeChat, making their stay in one of the world’s most cashless societies much easier than before.
By linking their international Visa credit or debit card to their WeChat account, tourists will be able to access tens of millions of online and offline merchants as of mid or late July, as well as services such as ride-hailing, delivery and transportation networks.
China is the world’s largest mobile payments market, with an adoption rate of 86 percent by 2021, according to data from consulting firm PwC. Besides WeChat Pay, known in China as Weixin Pay, the other dominant player is AliPay, developed by tech giant Alibaba.
During a panel discussion on frictionless payment at the World Economic Forum “Summer Davos” in Tianjin on Wednesday, Mr. Royal Chen, Vice President of Tencent Financial Technology, said WeChat Pay will soon be made available to those coming to China.
“It will be the same as how local Chinese would pay for things. There is almost no difference in experience,” he said.
His company is the fintech arm of social media and gaming giant Tencent, which owns WeChat.
WeChat first expanded its mobile payment service to foreigners in 2019 under a pilot initiative, but only covered a handful of merchants. Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020.
After three years of closing its borders to the world, China is gearing up for international visitors after reopening in January. It will host the Asian Games in Hangzhou city from September to October, and the Belt and Road Forum later this year.
WeChat’s new service for foreigners is timed to meet the large number of visitors China expects as international tourism picks up again, Mr. Chen.
AliPay also allows international travelers to tie their credit cards to the payment system for use in China.
Currently, users, including foreigners, must link their Chinese debit card to WeChat in order to use the mobile payment services. The lack of access to such services has been a major annoyance for travelers to China without Chinese bank accounts. This is because cash transactions are the exception rather than the norm and foreign credit cards are not widely accepted in the country.
Both WeChat and AliPay have also partnered with merchants in Singapore to facilitate cashless payments by Chinese tourists to the island nation.
