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UnionPay International Expands Its Parternship with Tourism Industry Association of Canada
2018-06-27


Ge Huayong (1st right), Chairman of China UnionPay and Bardish Chagger (1st left), Minister of Federal Ministry of Small Business and Tourism of Canada jointly witnessed

UnionPay International announced today that it has signed a cooperation agreement with Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC) in Shanghai in which both parties agreed to expand the scope for using UnionPay cards in Canada and promote local merchants to offer exclusive UnionPay card offers and enhance cardholders’ card using experience in Canada.Ge Huayong, Chairman of China UnionPay and Bardish Chagger , Minister of Federal Ministry of Small Business and Tourism of Canada jointly witnessed.

In recent years, the cooperation between UnionPay International and Canadian tourism industry has become increasingly close. In 2014, UnionPay International and Canadian Tourism Commission reached a cooperation to promote UnionPay card payment among travel merchants and travel agencies in Canada. In 2016, UnionPay International and TIAC established a strategic partnership to jointly promote the acceptance of UnionPay cards among local merchants and local tourism bureaus. The year of 2018 is the China-Canada Tourism Year, during which Chinese tourists visiting Canada in the first quarter increased by 25.6% year-on-year, becoming the largest overseas tourist group visiting Canada. In response to this trend, UnionPay International has deepened its cooperation with TIAC and further signed the cooperation agreement.

Both parties agreed this time to: Firstly, promote more travel merchants in Canada to accept UnionPay cards and jointly improve the level of tourism-related payment; Secondly, provide a variety of UnionPay products and services to TIAC member merchants through local acquirers; Thirdly, carry out joint marketing of UnionPay cards to increase attractiveness and service ability of merchants in Canada to Chinese tourists.

Ge huayong said that deepening cooperation with TIAC will make it possible to provide safer and more convenient payment services for Chinese tourists visiting Canada and promote exchanges and cooperation between the two countries in economy and tourism. In the future, UnionPay will continue to deepen cross-border cooperation with government tourism departments, tourism organizations and travel agencies, accelerate the improvement of tourism payment environment, and enhance travel and purchasing experience of tourists.

Bardish Chagger stated that as we celebrate the Canada-China Year of Tourism, this tourism trade mission to China is helping to develop and build on existing business-to-business relationships for our federal, provincial and territorial partners and tourism businesses. This partnership will enable our countries to strengthen our connections and further recognize the importance of the Chinese market to the Canadian tourism industry as we work toward our goal of doubling two-way trade by 2025.

At present, the five major Canadian banks are ready to accept UnionPay cards. 90% of ATMs and more than 160,000 merchants in the local area now accept UnionPay cards, covering daily necessities, catering, accommodation, supermarkets, entertainment, transportation and other fields. Tianbao Travel, NGH Tours and other well-known online travel merchants now all accept UnionPay card online payment. Visitors can also make payment by UnionPay mobile QuickPass at a number of daily consumer stores.

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