Six million Chinese tourists are expected to visit other countries during the Golden Week, which began on October 1. According to the latest analysis by the China Tourism Academy, which made a comparison with previous years, the new generation of Chinese tourists traveling abroad, instead of spending a lot of time shopping, preferred activities such as driving, performance, special food, entertainment, etc. This trend causes more overseas merchants to improve the shopping experiences of Chinese tourists, such as promoting the UnionPay card service.
As published by the Australian Financial Review, Chinese tourists visiting Australia shifted their attention from luxuries to upscale restaurants, apart-hotels and museums. For example, The Meat & Wine Co has been receiving considerably more Chinese tourists since it came to accept UnionPay.
In addition, more merchants and tourism sectors have realized the significance of the UnionPay card service to attract Chinese tourists. The two largest hotel groups in Europe collectively went on to receive UnionPay, including 200 Louvre and 110 Accor stores. Greek merchants initially accepted UnionPay’s Mobile QuickPass, which supports micropayment without password verification and signature, enabling UnionPay cardholders to make payments with their mobile phones. The DLVA at Provencce strives to establish the “UnionPay Payment Demonstration Towns” program, where tourists can use UnionPay cards conveniently.
UnionPay cards, with family characteristics, safe, convenient and preferential, have undoubtedly become the first choice of Chinese foreign tourism. UnionPay’s broad scope of acceptance covers 162 countries and regions, including almost all of China’s favorite destinations such as Latin America, Central Asia and Africa. Currently, more than 21 million merchants and 1.5 million ATMs operate with UnionPay cards outside of Mainland China.
During the Golden Week, many Chinese tourists shared their shopping experiences at Kyoto art shops, shops in Germany, gas stations in the US, etc. As self-service travel and travel experiences become popular, the UnionPay card acceptance network has expanded from sightseeing and shopping to catering, grocery, transportation and entertainment, objectively supporting diversified travel patterns of Chinese tourists.
Exclusive privileges are another reason. More than 200 well-known merchants worldwide in 33 popular tourism destinations have cooperated with UnionPay International during National Day, offering up to 40% discounts to UnionPay cardholders. The unique privileges of UnionPay cards are numerous in number and extensive in scope. UnionPay cards discount is usually the maximum on the same merchant. For Chinese tourists, the exchange rate of exchange is not substantial.