Digital payments add to joy of traveling in China

The eight-day National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday saw a surge in inbound tourism, with foreign visitors increasingly embracing Chinese mobile payment tools as part of their travel experience, among other measures to this end, such as expanded visa-free policies, streamlined tax refund services and easier payment methods.

Experts said China's digital mobile payment technologies have bolstered tourism-related consumption and injected fresh momentum into the country's economic growth.

Data from Alipay, the digital payment arm of Chinese financial tech company Ant Group, showed that spending by inbound tourists on the platform rose by nearly 40 percent during the first five days of the holiday compared with the same period last year.

Overseas visitors increasingly opted for convenient and contactless payments enabled by Alipay's "Tap to Pay" feature, with the transaction volume surging 500 percent year-on-year.

Dining, tourism, offline retail and transportation were the most popular spending categories among inbound tourists during the eight-day holiday that ended on Wednesday. Alipay reported that foreign visitors' expenditure on retail brands soared more than 200 percent from a year earlier.

During the Golden Week break, destinations where international visitors used their mobile phones to shop most included Shanghai, Guangdong province's Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and Beijing. In Guangzhou, spending by inbound tourists via Alipay increased 70 percent year-on-year.

Under the guidance of authorities, Alipay has partnered with tax refund agencies to launch the innovative tax refund service in several popular destinations such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen for overseas tourists. This new service allows foreign visitors to enjoy instant tax refunds at the point of purchase, making the process more convenient and boosting their willingness to spend.

Hong Yong, an associate research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said, "China's mobile payment options have greatly simplified the payment process, improved transaction efficiency and provided consumers with a more convenient payment experience."

Hong said the widespread adoption of digital payment methods and expanded visa-free policies have attracted a large number of overseas tourists, thus further propelling the development of the tourism sector, stimulating consumption demand from fields such as catering, accommodation and transportation, as well as injecting more vitality into the country's economic growth.

China has stepped up efforts to make mobile payment processes more accessible to foreigners. Foreign travelers can now link their international bank cards such as Visa and Mastercard to mobile payment platforms like Alipay and WeChat Pay. The two platforms have allowed foreigners to use familiar e-wallets from their home countries by scanning QR codes.

The shopping and spending boom during the just-concluded holiday has also demonstrated the enormous vitality of China's consumption market and the strong resilience of the world's second-largest economy.

Inbound tourism to China picked up, with the number of overseas visitors using the WeChat mini-program rising more than 60 percent year-on-year during the first five days of the holiday, WeChat Pay said.

Cross-border transactions rose 21 percent year-on-year between Oct 1 and Oct 5. Hong Kong and Macao remained the most popular destinations among Chinese mainland tourists, recording the highest cross-border payment volumes.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong residents were active shoppers on the Chinese mainland during the holiday, with the number of transactions using WeChat Pay jumping more than 120 percent year-on-year, WeChat Pay said. Expenditures on e-commerce services, pet and courier services witnessed the fastest growth.

China's consumer market has gained momentum during the extended eight-day holiday, showcasing immense growth potential, said Pan Helin, a member of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's Expert Committee for Information and Communication Economy.

Pan said China's innovative mobile payment tools have not only helped tackle payment difficulties faced by international travelers, but also boosted inbound tourism and the recovery of domestic consumption.

Wang Pengbo, a senior analyst at market consultancy Botong Analysys, said more efforts are needed to expand the application scenarios of mobile payment methods at tourist attractions, sporting events, transportation hubs, healthcare and beauty centers, and other frequent consumption sites.