Spending in Australia by Chinese visitors is set to rise sharply following a major agreement between the tourism and banking industries that overcomes some of the current obstacles to increased spending.
Following the signing of a partnership between ATEC and the National Australia Bank (NAB), Chinese visitors will have more opportunities to use their UnionPay card while visiting Australia.
ATEC Managing Director, Felicia Mariani, said research has shown that Chinese visitors are more likely to enter a store that displays the UnionPay logo in the window and there were more than 3 billion UnionPay cards in circulation.
“Chinese visitors generally prefer to purchase on a UnionPay card which are the most readily used forms of payment in Australia so being able to spend on their UnionPay card is essential for the Chinese traveller,” ATEC Managing Director, Felicia Mariani said.
“This alliance, will help enable more tourism operators to be China ready and with these visitors already spending an average of more than $7,000 per trip, its essential our industry is able to provide easy and secure access to their spending money back home.”
Chinese travellers have a restriction on how much money they can carry out of the country and exchanging directly into AUD is difficult. Often they must convert to USD when leaving China and convert again into AUD once in Australia, therefore incurring additional conversion fees.
“Having a UnionPay facility means Chinese visitors can directly access their money back home, either credit or debit. There is no spending limit at point of sale as UnionPay purchases are excluded from the foreign currency exchange quota.
“What this agreement does is help raise awareness and take-up of the UnionPay card facility throughout the tourism industry.”
Ms Mariani said there were already tourism businesses seeing the benefits of greater promotion of UnionPay to Chinese visitors.
“Attractions such as Philip Island Nature Parks and Sovereign Hill have seen a remarkable growth in Chinese visitor spend since introducing and actively promoting UnionPay and ATEC wants see is all tourism businesses offering this facility promoting it prominently.
“Since introducing UnionPay terminals, Philip Island has seen sales to Chinese visitors for the first half of this year increase by 180% year on year – it is clear to them that this facility is driving a significant increase in Chinese visitor spend.”
Ms Mariani said the alliance will help to bolster the projected $7-9 billion a year in spending expected from the Chinese market by 2020.
“Our 2020 industry projections for the China market are based on the current spending patterns of Chinese visitors but with this alliance it is quite likely we will see a significant increase in this spend,” Ms Mariani said.
The announcement of the alliance coincides with a Memorandum of Understanding signed in Shanghai earlier this month between Tourism Australia and UnionPay.
Tourism Australia Managing Director Andrew McEvoy said the expansion and better promotion of UnionPay payment facilities would make it easier for Australia’s 600,000-plus annual Chinese visitors to enjoy and make the most of their time in the country.
“The Chinese are now our highest spending visitor market. They love to shop and it’s important that we offer them a way to do that which they are familiar and comfortable with, and which is convenient, simple and secure,” Mr McEvoy said.
“We want our Chinese visitors to also stay longer and spend more and we will work with UnionPay on this front – to develop a successful and prosperous partnership.
“We congratulate ATEC on being the industry body leading the way in promoting the increased opportunities offered by UnionPay facilities.”
The ATEC, NAB/ UnionPay alliance will work to promote UnionPay to the whole tourism industry and provide specific benefits to ATEC members.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
