July 2nd
In the Sichuan Provincial Department of Commerce, Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce
Sichuan Branch of the People's Bank of China and Chongqing Branch of the People's Bank of China
Chengdu Municipal Party Committee Financial Office, Chengdu Jinjiang District People's Government
and other departments
Chengdu Chunxi Road Fashion and Vitality District Management Committee
Chongqing Jiefangbei Central Business District Management Committee
Ant Group
United Bank of China, Mastercard
Chengdu Rail Group and other domestic and foreign payment and travel partners
Jointly launched in Times Square, Chunxi Road, Chengdu
"Chengdu-Chongqing Inbound Consumption-Friendly Business District Co-construction Plan"
That day
Including the Liberation Monument and Hongya Cave
Chunxi Road, Kuanzhai Alley, Fengdu, etc
More than 60 popular business districts, landmarks and scenic spots in Chengdu and Chongqing
Airports, high-speed railways, subways and other travel units in Chengdu and Chongqing
Let's join in the co-construction action
It is designed to be known to more inbound guests
Come to China, to Chengdu-Chongqing
"Large-amount card swiping, small-amount code scanning, cash pocket"
Lots of payment options
Especially expatriates from the ASEAN region
Alipay+ cross-border services are available
Use your favorite hometown e-wallet directly
"A mobile phone to travel to Chongqing"
Inbound tourists come to Chengdu-Chongqing
Consumption increased 13 times in the first half of the year
"The hometown of pandas and hot pot is really both traditional and modern." In the past two days, Isaac, a Singaporean college student, traveled to the Twin Cities for four days, from Jiefang Monument to Chunxi Road, drinking milk tea, eating hot pot, and watching the European Cup with fans...... Along the way, eating, drinking, playing, shopping, and living, they all use a mobile phone to pay, and even take the high-speed rail and subway can also use their OCBC (Singapore OCBC Bank e-wallet) to buy tickets, which makes him come to China for the first time and can't help but sigh: the visa-free entry policy is so convenient, the Chengdu-Chongqing travel experience is very cordial, and I want to bring my grandparents with me next time.
A number of popular business districts in Chongqing, such as Jiefangbei, have joined the "Inbound Consumption-Friendly Business District" co-construction plan, and Chongqing's street shops can also support overseas customers to use their hometown wallets to scan the Alipay code to buy things
Isaac's "One Mobile Phone Tour in Chengdu-Chongqing" is a microcosm of the upgraded experience of inbound tourists in China. In 2020, under the guidance and support of the People's Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, Ant Group worked closely with partners such as NetUnion Clearing Company, Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and several Alipay+ overseas wallets to launch two sets of service inbound payment solutions for foreigners in China, including "downloading the Alipay App and binding an overseas bank card" (binding the foreign card inside) and "directly using an overseas e-wallet to scan the Alipay QR code" (outsourced and internal).
At present, there are 5 major international bank card groups that support Alipay's "external card binding", including: Mastercard, Visa, JCB, DinersClub, and Discover. In addition, through Ant Group's Alipay+ cross-border payment solution, there are 12 overseas wallets from 9 countries and regions, including: AlipayHK in Hong Kong, MPay in Macau, Touch 'n Go eWallet in Malaysia, TrueMoney in Thailand, Hipay in Mongolia, Changi Pay and OCBC Digital in Singapore, Kakao Pay in South Korea, Naver Pay and Toss Pay, NayaPay in Pakistan, Kaspi.kz in Kazakhstan.
The 80 million merchants in Chinese mainland who can use Alipay can support both sets of solutions without machine modification, so that global consumers can use "one mobile phone to travel China".
According to the latest data provided by Alipay and Alipay+ partners, from January to June 2024, the amount of inbound tourists coming to Chengdu and Chongqing increased by 13 times year-on-year, and the number of consumers increased by 11 times year-on-year. Among them, AlipayHK from Hong Kong, China, Touch 'n Go eWallet, and TrueMoney from ASEAN ranked the top three in terms of consumption. Foreign guests in the Chengdu-Chongqing area love to use mobile payment, mainly in transportation, catering and supermarkets. In addition, the number of merchants in Sichuan and Chongqing who use Alipay and Alipay+ for international tourist business has also increased by 5 times year-on-year.
"Payment facilitation has become a benchmark for high-level opening-up. Judging from the usage of more than a year, our 'wild card and internal binding' transactions have grown rapidly, especially in subways, buses, taxis, and takeaways, which form a good complement to 'large-value card swiping'. As the first international card association to enter the Chinese mainland market, Mastercard has actively implemented convenient payment services such as "foreign card binding" with partners such as Alipay under the guidance of the People's Bank of China's principle of "large-value card swiping, small-value code scanning, and cash pocketing".
Liu Tuo, General Manager of Business Development of Mastercard China, said that Mastercard is willing to continue to deepen cooperation with Ant Group, local relevant departments and partners to promote the construction of a more diversified and inclusive payment ecosystem and payment environment. The co-construction of the "Chengdu-Chongqing Inbound Consumption-Friendly Business District" can further unleash the consumption potential of inbound tourists, enhance the global influence of the Chengdu-Chongqing region, and inject new momentum into the development of the regional economy.
Ant Group and all parties jointly launched the "Chengdu-Chongqing Inbound Consumption-Friendly Business District", and the counters of popular merchants are uniformly displayed with convenient cross-border payment logos
Xue Lian, Vice President of Bank of China Chengdu Jinjiang Branch, introduced at the scene, "In order to fully ensure the high-quality and efficient completion of payment services, Bank of China in Sichuan has taken multiple measures and implemented comprehensive policies, not only optimizing the payment acceptance environment, but also providing a variety of services including foreign exchange settlement and sales in 38 foreign currencies in all branches in Sichuan, so as to continuously improve the service level of foreign account accounts." ”
Chengdu-Chongqing business district co-construction to enhance the inbound consumption experience
Merchants in Sichuan and Chongqing have increased their transnational business by 5 times
According to the new "China Inbound Tourism Development Report (2023-2024)" released by the China Tourism Academy, with the further expansion of the visa-free "circle of friends", the gradual resumption of international routes, the further improvement of entry convenience, and the active promotion of market players at all levels of tourist destinations, the mainland inbound tourism market continues to improve, and is expected to recover to 80% of 2019 in 2024. In this "China Travel" boom, Chengdu ranked fifth after Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and Chongqing ranked seventh, and both places were on the list of the top ten popular destination cities for inbound tourism in the first quarter of 2024.
The relevant person in charge of Jinjiang District, Chengdu City, pointed out that the construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing Twin-City Economic Circle, which is also the pearl of the southwest, needs to further optimize the convenience of cross-border payment and the high-level opening up of services, and looks forward to the core business districts of the two places such as Chunxi Road and Jiefangbei can make full use of convenient policies such as 144-hour transit visa exemption, and cooperate with each other in the joint construction of business districts and joint sharing of services, so as to jointly build an international consumption destination, cultural tourism experience place and foreign exchange carrier with Bashu characteristics.
One of the characteristics of inbound consumer-friendly business districts is that the convenient payment signs on the service desks are obvious
As one of the main bodies of co-construction, He Karen, representative of Jiefangbei business district and director of the second department of Cathay Youhuo City Plaza, said that since the beginning of this year, policies such as visa-free travel for many countries have not only promoted the growth of inbound tourists' consumption, but also driven the convenience of diversified payment services, and the inbound travel orders in Chongqing have increased by 203% year-on-year on May Day. As the core business district of Chongqing, Jiefangbei has different consumption hotspots and "Chongqing flavors" such as Jianghu cuisine, which is an important release place for inbound consumption. After joining the "Chengdu-Chongqing Inbound Consumption-Friendly Business District Co-construction Plan", Jiefangbei Business District can give full play to the advantages of the city's core business district, and do a good job in the scenario, quality and diversification of inbound consumption more efficiently and with higher quality.
Mi Jia, Secretary of the Party Working Committee and Director of the Management Committee of Chongqing Jiefangbei Central Business District, said that up to now, the key areas of Jiefangbei have basically realized barrier-free payment for foreign visitors to China, and 76 merchants in four key shopping malls, including Cathay Pacific Plaza, WFC Shopping Center, Times Square and Fuyuehui, have achieved full coverage of cash payment.
Mi Jia said that the next step will be to further implement the "Ten Actions for Payment Facilitation", and further promote the "one-stop service" level, improve the bank card acceptance environment, improve cash deposit and withdrawal, exchange convenience, and improve the convenience of mobile payment, so as to provide more convenience for inbound tourists to consume in Jiefangbei business district.
Under the guidance of the People's Bank of China, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange and other government departments, Ant Group took the lead in laying out convenient payment signage materials at Chongqing Jiangbei Airport, Chengdu Shuangliu Airport and Tianfu Airport in the first half of the year, set up Alipay+ overseas guest payment consultation desks, produced a Sichuan-Chongqing dialect learning manual, used a variety of methods to publicize the inbound payment facilitation policy, and guided inbound personnel to open electronic payment "hand in hand". Taking Chongqing Jiangbei Airport as an example, the average daily consultation volume is as high as 60-100 orders.
Three major airports in Chengdu and Chongqing have opened convenient payment desks for overseas guests, and Isaac, a Singaporean university student, received the Alipay+ service manual at Chongqing Jiangbei Airport
In order to let more inbound tourists understand the convenience of Chinese payment, under the guidance of the People's Bank of China and other departments, Ant Group, together with multiple partners such as Netlink Clearing Co., Ltd. and Alipay+ overseas e-wallets, as well as core business district partners and travel industry partners in key cities across the country, has launched the "Inbound Consumption-Friendly Business District Co-construction Plan" initiative in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou since April.
Fu Lu, general manager of cross-border business in Greater China of Ant Group, said: "Merchants in Chengdu and Chongqing have an open and positive attitude, and since 2023, we have distributed more than 70,000 promotional materials in Chengdu and Chongqing alone. It is hoped that through the joint efforts of various parties, the co-creation plan of the 'Inbound Consumption-Friendly Business District Co-construction Plan' will expand new business opportunities for the globalization of inbound tourism and consumption in Chengdu and Chongqing." ”
Chengdu-Chongqing's airport, high-speed rail, subway and other transportation industries have joined the joint construction of "inbound consumption-friendly business districts", and foreign tourists can also scan the code with their mobile phones to buy tickets when taking the subway
With the 12 overseas e-wallets of Alipay or Alipay+ services, tourists from all over the world can make it easy to spend and travel in China. According to Fu Lu, in the future, Ant Group will continue to do three things:
(1) Cooperate with more overseas wallet and card associations to continue to expand service coverage and continuously improve the level of payment facilitation for inbound guests;
(2) We will continue to work with all parties to jointly build "inbound consumption-friendly business districts" in more core business and travel cities across the country, so as to further enhance the friendliness of foreign consumers to pay in China;
(3) Cooperate with all parties to launch more digital promotional offers to increase the enthusiasm of foreign users to come to China for diversified consumption, so that foreign consumers can travel in China with a mobile phone from "want to use it" to "use it with ease".
Source: Chongqing release
Text: Liu Min
Photo: Courtesy of project participants