The other day, China UnionPay Chairman Ge Huayong attended the 22th General Assembly Session of UNWTO, and met with Gloria Guevara, the new President and CEO of World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). The two exchanged opinions on sustainable development of tourism, and reached a consensus. UnionPay International joined WTTC as an Industry Partner, and will strengthen its communication and cooperation with tourism-related industries through the platform of WTTC.

As introduced by Ge Huayong, UnionPay always attaches great significance to the close cooperation between tourism industry and payment industry, and will make active efforts to promote the cooperation with WTTC to jointly promote the sustainable development of tourism. Now, UnionPay is accepted in over 160 countries and regions, generally covering all the popular tourist destinations. In addition to card-based payment, UnionPay has also launched its mobile payment product, mobile QuickPass, to offer payment ease to tourists and meet their increasingly diverse payment needs.

Guevara welcomes UnionPay International to be an Industry Partner of WTTC. She said, UnionPay is one of the world’s leading payment brands, driving tourism by providing high quality, cost effective and secure cross-border payment services. We look forward to working together on the opportunities and challenges our sector faces in China and the world.

As a business leader in the global tourism industry, WTTC also has authority of studying the contribution made by tourism industry to economic society. This April, Ge Huayong attended the WTTC Global Summit held in Bangkok as the “Special Ambassador of International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development 2017”, and delivered a speech entitled “China's rising tourism industry will make greater contribution to the Chinese economy and global tourism”, which is widely recognized by the attendees as well as the press.