According to an official announcement on Tencent’s Internet Finance WeChat public account, WeChat Pay has announced its official entry into the U.S. market in partnership with CITCON. With relaxed U.S. visa policies such as the 10-year visa, and the continuous increase in flights between China and the U.S., the U.S. is becoming an increasingly popular travel destination for Chinese tourists. Now, with WeChat Pay’s official launch in the U.S., travelers can enjoy the convenience of cashless payments while in the country. Through WeChat Pay, daily expenses in the U.S.—from food and clothing to accommodation and transportation—can be directly settled in RMB.
In recent years, along with the rapid growth in the number of Chinese outbound tourists and their strong spending power, cashless payment methods represented by WeChat Pay have spread to most of the popular overseas travel destinations for Chinese travelers. According to a recent report released by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), in 2016, mainland Chinese tourists spent a total of $261 billion overseas, an increase of $11 billion from 2015, up 12% year-on-year, maintaining the top spot globally for the consecutive year. The spending power of outbound tourists has pointed WeChat Pay toward international expansion and brought new opportunities.
With its entry into the U.S., WeChat Pay has partnered with various businesses through local collaborators, including the Anaheim Belmont Suite Hotel near Disneyland California and the southwest coast, Hana ZEN Japanese Restaurant at Fisherman’s Wharf in the San Francisco Bay Area, Nobel Luggage at the Great Mall outlet in the San Francisco Bay Area, Tbaar bubble tea in Brooklyn, New York, Skydive Saipan on Saipan Island, and a ski training camp in Sandy, Oregon.
WeChat Pay has also partnered with WE Housing to provide international students residing long-term in the U.S. with the most comprehensive and reliable apartment information, as well as exclusive discounts available for immediate use. This helps international students access first-hand rental resources, facilitating a smoother transition and integration into student life in the U.S.
With its entry into the U.S., WeChat Pay has now expanded to 15 countries and regions, supporting direct settlement in 12 foreign currencies.
The underlying support for WeChat Pay and QQ Wallet is provided by Tencent’s Payment Platform and the Financial Applications Line (FiT) payment platform, which set a global peak record of 208,000 transactions per second during this year’s Spring Festival. Building on this foundation, Tencent continues to enhance its international capabilities, offering more and more convenient features for domestic users traveling abroad, and promoting the rapid and healthy global development of the mobile payment industry. WeChat Pay is also continuing to deepen its expansion in overseas markets, bringing more convenience to users traveling abroad.