China announces pilot to further optimize payment services for foreign travelers

BEIJING - Chinese authorities on Monday announced further measures that will help ease payment services for travelers who arrive in the country from overseas.

According to a circular jointly issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation and the National Data Administration, eight cities will carry out a pilot under which mobile payment service platforms will be supported in verifying the information of individual business entities so that the process for individual business entities to open platform-based payment codes supporting foreign credit cards can be streamlined.

The eight cities include Suzhou, Hangzhou, Jinan, Wuhan, Changsha, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Xi'an, said the circular.

The pilot will cover over 11 million individual business entities, accounting for about 9.3 percent of the total number nationwide, it said.

The Chinese mainland recorded an estimated 95 million inbound tourist arrivals in the first nine months of this year, a 55.4 percent increase year-on-year, as the country expands its visa-free transit policy.

China is taking continuous efforts to make payments more accessible for foreign travelers. In March, the State Council released a guideline aimed at continuing to optimize payment services of bank cards, promoting cash use and facilitating mobile payment.

In April, a circular was issued, stipulating that domestic and overseas bank cards should be accepted in the country's certain major tourist attractions.