WeChat Pay eyes up Europe for cross-border business

WeChat Pay has announced that Europe will be the next key market for WeChat Pay Cross-border Business.

As of April 2019, the number of merchants in the European region offering WeChat Pay as a payment method was 3.5 times higher than the previous year. WeChat has 1.112 billion monthly active users worldwide, of which 800 million are users of WeChat Pay. WeChat Pay has officially entered more than 49 overseas countries and regions, making it an excellent way for global merchants to quickly and effectively connect with Chinese tourists.

With outbound travel becoming easier and an increase in personal income levels, the Chinese outbound travel market continues to expand. According to the latest data from China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, in 2018, more than 149 million Chinese tourists travelled abroad, and Europe was the destination of choice for 11 percent of them.

Capitalising on the dividends of Chinese tourist traffic will be a key driver of future growth in the European tourism market.

Dave Fan, Senior Director of WeChat Pay, says: “WeChat Pay is not focused on solving a payment issue, this is about communication. Smart industry solutions, with WeChat Pay at their core, have been brought to millions of offline stores across more than 30 industries in China, and are common throughout users’ daily lives.

“Together with our global partners, we hope to extend the convenience offered by WeChat Pay overseas, so that global businesses can share the dividends of China’s growing outbound travel market.”