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As one of the last countries to open its borders last year to tourists after the pandemic, China’s government and key payments players are working to restart use of mobile payments by foreign nationals visiting the country, with promotions across local payment services providers, Chinese merchants and tourist site operators.  

China-based Ant Group, along with about a dozen payment partners of its Alipay+ mobile payments service, this month launched a program inviting merchants, tourist sites and commercial districts across China to create International Consumer Friendly Zones, according to a press release. As part of the push, Pakistan’s NayaPay became the 11th digital wallet to become interoperable with Alipay+, so that NayaPay users may transact at 80 million merchants in China using their NayaPay app, according to a press release. 

In addition to Alipay+, the release noted that travelers may link their Visa, Mastercard, Discover, Diners Club and JCB cards to an Alipay app to enable in-app purchases for shopping, dining, ride-hailing and public transportation within the Chinese mainland. Ant Group is offering participating businesses help with multilingual support for its app, user guides and merchant training. 

China hosted 35.5 million visitors in 2023, a seven-fold increase over 2022, during the first full year since reopening its borders, according to CNN. But the total number of foreign nationals entering and exiting the country last year was barely one-third of 98 million that traveled to China in 2019.

The Chinese government recently eased requirements for incoming travelers by enabling visitors from many European countries and Malaysia to enter China for 15 days without a visa, while visitors from the U.S. face fewer requirements and no longer need to submit a detailed itinerary when seeking permission to visit. —Kate Fitzgerald