London based digital marketing agency Digipanda Marketing, specialists in the Chinese market, has launched a new service in which it can connect UK tourism businesses with Alipay and WeChat Pay, the two most popular mobile payment solutions among Chinese visitors.
Statistics show that mobile payments in 2016 via Alipay reached £1.2 trillion while WeChat Pay reached £870 billion; the two services combined took more than 90% of the market share in 2016.
Edward Teng, Managing Director of Digipanda Marketing, said “This new service will open up a broader and more effective channel for UK’s inbound tourism businesses to attract Chinese visitors.
“Connecting with Alipay and WeChat Pay would also help inbound businesses, especially entertainment and retail providers, to gain more business from Chinese students in the UK, as young people aged 21 – 29 are the largest group of mobile payment users, accounting for 43% of all users.”
To enhance the experience of inbound businesses in adopting Alipay and WeChat Pay, Digipanda has combined this brand new service with its UK Discount Guide for Summer campaign, which aims to deliver promotional messages from travel and tourism businesses to Chinese visitors – primarily FIT – who plan to visit during July and August.
The UK Discount Guide for Summer campaign is a joint project between Digipanda and Ctrip, China’s biggest online travel agency who also own Skyscanner. The campaign sees promotional messages from local businesses pushed via WeChat to Chinese visitors who have booked flights or hotel rooms in the UK via Ctrip.
Digipanda will offer discounted transaction fees during July and August 2018 to any inbound businesses who want to adopt Alipay and/or WeChat Pay and join the UK Discount Guide for Summercampaign at the same time.
For more information, please contact Demi Perera at [email protected] or Edward Teng at [email protected].
