In today's globalization, China attracts more and more foreign tourists with its unique charm and rich cultural heritage.
However, for foreign tourists to China, due to differences in language, culture, payment habits, etc., it is often difficult for them to use some payment tools smoothly, and in some cases, they face the problem of "having money but not spending". In this regard, the state took action!
Data map: International students experience traditional Chinese culture. Photo by Zhou Shuyi
The state "made a move" to clear the barriers to payment
In response to the above situation, there is first action at the policy level.
In March this year, the "Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Further Optimizing Payment Services and Improving Payment Convenience" was released, which mentioned "further improving the convenience of mobile payment" and "better protecting consumers' payment choices".
In April, the People's Bank of China and other four departments issued the Notice on Further Optimizing Payment Services for Key Cultural and Tourism Venues and Improving Payment Convenience (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), which also mentioned that it is necessary to continue to improve mobile payment services, optimize business processes, enrich product functions, and improve the convenience of mobile payment in online and offline scenarios of cultural and tourism venues.
The "Notice" clarifies that three-star and above tourist hotels, national 5A and 4A tourist attractions, national and provincial tourist resorts, and national tourism and leisure blocks should achieve full coverage of domestic and foreign bank card acceptance. Relevant business entities of key cultural and tourism venues should retain manual ticketing windows, support cash payment, and protect consumers' right to choose payment. Actively promote the establishment of foreign currency exchange business outlets in cultural and tourism venues with a large number of foreign visitors to China, and improve the level of foreign currency exchange services, etc.
In addition, recently, the People's Bank of China also issued the "Payment Guide for Foreign Visitors to China", which introduces the acquisition and use process of five payment services such as mobile payment, bank card and cash in an illustrated and textual manner, and "swipes" in the circle of friends of many foreign friends.
Screenshot of "Payment Guide for Foreign Visitors to China".
A variety of payment methods are available for foreign visitors to China
In addition to the conventional "cash pocket", Zhongxin Finance has sorted out that foreign tourists can also solve the payment problem through two main methods: "binding the wild card inside" and "outsourcing for internal use".
The so-called "foreign card binding" refers to the fact that overseas users download Alipay, WeChat and other payment tools, and after binding the bank card (the supported international bank cards need to check the specific platform), they can meet the daily scenarios such as "eating, drinking, playing and Tesco" in China just like domestic users, and tens of millions of merchants support it.
In terms of "outsourcing for domestic use", according to the "Payment Guide for Foreign Visitors to China", some overseas e-wallets can be paid directly in China without the need to download other apps. According to its announcement, there are already more than 30 e-wallets that can be used in China.
In addition, foreigners can also open a bank account in local and foreign currencies at a bank branch with a valid passport or other valid documents, or download the e-CNY (pilot version) App and use it according to the prompts in the app.
The domestic transaction volume of foreign tourists on the payment platform has soared
In addition to continuing to cultivate "internal skills", domestic payment platforms have also made continuous efforts to expand the "circle of friends" and strengthen cooperation with ecological partners in the inbound tourism industry, including card sets such as Visa and Mastercard, as well as travel platforms such as Ctrip and Fliggy, so as to facilitate foreign tourists to travel in China with a mobile phone.
Data map.
The reporter learned from a number of domestic payment platforms that after the introduction of the above policies, the platforms have been upgraded, for example, they will be paid without authentication after binding the card within a certain limit; the single transaction limit has been raised from $1,000 to $5,000, and the annual transaction limit has been increased from $10,000 to $50,000; new services such as multilingual translation and overseas wallet code "one-code pass" have been launched one after another; and some will also bear a single international card consumption fee of less than 200 yuan for users.
According to the data provided by Alipay, in March 2024, the cumulative transaction amount of foreign tourists in China through Alipay increased by nearly 10 times compared with March last year, the number of transactions increased by nearly 8 times year-on-year, and the number of active users increased by nearly 6 times year-on-year.
According to data released by WeChat, in March this year, the average daily transaction amount of WeChat Pay's foreign card business increased by more than 3 times compared with that before the service upgrade last year, and the average number of daily transactions increased by more than 4 times. At the same time, more and more foreign users are also willing to choose to use mobile payment to meet the various consumption needs of inbound travel.
A two-way win-win situation, and small shops also do "global business"
It is more convenient for expatriates to pay, which also brings tangible benefits to local merchants.
Taking Yuyuan Mall as an example, after the merchants here put Alipay QR codes, it not only facilitates the payment of foreign tourists, but also expands the source of customers and sales of the store.
Similar scenes are "blooming" in many places across the country. Yangmeizhu Xiejie outside Zhengyangmen in Beijing, an old alley with a history of more than 600 years, attracts many foreign tourists every day. Wang Jing, the person in charge of Qiankun Space, who carries out various intangible cultural heritage experience courses in this alley, told China News Finance that the store supports multiple payment methods to meet the needs of different tourists, which not only increases the turnover of the store, but also promotes the exchange and dissemination of Chinese and foreign cultures.
(Source: China News Network)