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Chinese tourists, with modern Chinese consumption habits, are driving a revolution of payment method in tourism destinations all over the world. For instance, access to China’s major online payment platform Alipay has already become a common practice for Japanese merchants before the Chinese vacation. With improved livelihood, outbound trips have become a regular activity for Chinese. China’s travelers are expected to take an estimated 700 million trips over the next five years, and China remains the world’s largest consumer of outbound tourism for four consecutive years. Nowadays, Chinese outbound tourists are passing up shopping and spending more money on in-depth tourism experiences, said a 2017 report on Chinese outbound tourists jointly issued by China Tourism Academy and tour provider Ctrip. Luxury bags and jewels have been gradually removed from their lists, while museums and art galleries have become must-see destinations, the article pointed out. In order to attract more Chinese tourists, many tourist destinations in the world have carried out targeted studies. The Spain daily newspaper El Pais described Chinese tourists as tech-savvy urban dwellers with decent income and college education. European countries now accept Quick Pass, a contactless payment service by China’s Union Pay, and Chinese mobile payment apps WeChat Pay and Alipay have been broadly introduced to China’s neighboring countries, including Japan and Thailand. Some of the overseas merchants even conducted in-depth studies on tea, food, festivals, and other aspects of Chinese culture, as well as on how to best market to Chinese to further improve their attraction. Read Original Article |
