Ant Financial rolled out a new initiative enabling tourists in China to use its mobile payments service Alipay without a linked Chinese bank account.
Chinese tech website Abacus reported the company, in collaboration with the Bank of Shanghai, launched a new programme dubbed Tour Pass on Alipay, which lets tourists add funds to its payments app from an international credit or debit card.
Previously, non-domestic tourists required a Chinese bank account to add funds to Alipay, which made it difficult for them to access mobile payment services.
Abacus noted the solution will be welcomed by international visitors to China, considering many merchants in the country no longer accept cash, as payment platforms Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay continue to thrive.
The move also gives Alipay an edge over WeChat Pay, which doesn’t currently have a similar feature.
Users can add cash to Tour Pass using a bank card from Visa or Mastercard. A minimum top up of CNY100 ($14.26) is required, and the balance is capped at CNY2,000.
