Chinese tourists pay with their mobiles

Intending to increase Chinese tourist spending, a growing number of businesses and shops around the world offer Chinese customers their usual payment systems to pay via mobile. Nielsen Market analysts and Ant Financial (Alibaba's fintech firm) have revealed this in a study.

What does it mean? It is straightforward: the main Chinese mobile payment applications, AliPay and WeChat Pay focus on the expansion of their action ratio to cover the Chinese tourist, one of those who spend the most on travel. Given recent tensions with the US market, the Asian giants have their sights set on Europe.

According to the study, 2019 was the year in which the adoption of mobile payment for Chinese tourists grew the most, resulting in the associated increase in spending. The survey interviewed 547 business worldwide and 4,837 Chinese tourists about their stance on Chinese applications for mobile payment. Almost two-thirds of the companies interviewed in the United Kingdom stated that they had adopted these payment systems in 2019, and 89% of interviewed Chinese tourists said they were more willing to spend if they were provided with familiar payment methods.

The Chinese way of paying is changing.

Chinese tourists' currency exchange for their travels to Europe dropped by 16% in 2019, which means a significant loss in cash payments. With this information in hand, Alipay decides to establish partnerships with companies in the countries most frequented by Chinese, to create new supports and consolidate its presence in foreign markets. In July 2019, it partnered with 5 of the leading electronic wallet platforms in Europe, which places them in a privileged position in the markets of countries such as Finland, Norway, Spain, Portugal and Austria. This fact benefits the Chinese giant, but also the thousands of European merchants that manage to exponentially increase their profits, by adapting to the needs of the foreign customer.

There is already growing evidence that mobile payment is gradually consolidating into one of the primary payment methods of society worldwide. The new generations are losing the custom of traditional cash payment, thus moving towards cashless commerce. In the same way, fintech companies are becoming the new reality of global trade. If you are also thinking about updating the way you understand and manage payments and finances, we offer you the latest trends at PayXpert. From the most modern payment methods to data management, we give everything to help you grow and better manage your company in all that we do.