China Opens Arms to Foreign Travelers... Improving Payment Convenience for Foreigners

Electronic Payments Accepted Without Cards or Cash
All-Out Effort to Boost Domestic Consumption Amid Slow Economic Recovery

China is improving its payment system, which is considered the most inconvenient local service for overseas travelers. This move aims to make it easier for inbound tourists (foreigners traveling domestically) to spend money ahead of major events such as the Chengdu Universiade and the Hangzhou Asian Games. It is also a response linked to the recent sluggish economic recovery in China.

According to local media including China Economic Daily on the 20th, Tencent, which operates China's largest messenger service WeChat, has partnered with Visa, JCB, and Mastercard to waive payment fees for transactions under 200 yuan (approximately 35,643 KRW). This significantly improves the previous inconvenience where travelers had to subscribe to local telecom services, link payment accounts, or pay high fees for traveler-specific payments.

WeChat

Accordingly, after entering China, travelers can install the WeChat Pay app → verify their identity using their passport and a mobile phone number registered outside China → link a credit card, and then use the commonly accepted 'QR code payment' in China. Payments can be made up to 6,000 yuan at a time, with an annual limit of 60,000 yuan. If a payment exceeds 200 yuan per transaction, a 3% fee is charged on the transaction amount. It is known that there are currently more than 10 million affiliated merchants.

China, where credit cards are not commonly used, typically makes payments by scanning QR codes through their own WeChat or Zhifubao (Alipay). Many stores do not accept cash, and even if they do, customers may not receive change due to lack of coins.

Prior to this, South Korea’s Kakao Pay also partnered with Alipay to enable payments locally in China. When using Kakao Pay as usual in Korea, it automatically links to Alipay and pays at the exchange rate set by the partner company.

China’s revision of the payment entry barriers, which had been recognized but neglected despite the inconvenience to overseas visitors, appears to be connected to the recent sluggish economic recovery. China’s GDP growth rate for the second quarter, recently announced, recorded 6.3% year-on-year, significantly below market expectations (7.0?7.3%). Retail sales last month increased by 3.1% year-on-year, falling short of the forecast (3.2%).

In particular, this measure was taken ahead of the Chengdu Universiade at the end of this month and the Hangzhou Asian Games in September. As these are opportunities for a large influx of tourists from overseas following the transition to a with-COVID-19 policy, the decision aims to improve the consumption environment and support the domestic economy. China Economic Daily explained, "Industry insiders expect the number of inbound tourists to continue increasing as international sports events are held consecutively," adding, "This measure connects the wallets of overseas visitors with the Chinese system to improve the mobile payment experience for inbound users."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.