UnionPay facilitates the personnel exchanges between China and Canada
2018-04-13

According to the data issued by Canada Tourism Commission, 680,000 Chinese tourists visited Canada in 2017, reaching a record high. As the year of 2018 has been decided as the China-Canada Year of Tourism, tourism between the two countries is expected to boom. As of today, 90% of ATMs and over 150,000 merchant locations in Canada accept UnionPay cards, and the amount of transactions made with China-issued UnionPay cards in Canada grew by about 100% year-on-year in 2017. Bank of China and ICBC have issued UnionPay cards in Canada, providing convenient payment services to the Canadian tourists who visit China.

To further improve tourists’ payment experience in Canada, UnionPay International has continued to carry out cooperation with government departments, industry associations, financial institutions, as well as local merchants. Recently, UnionPay International has established a strategic partnership with the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC) to jointly expand the acceptance scope of UnionPay cards in Canada as well as to promote more merchants to provide exclusive offers for UnionPay cardholders. Moreover, the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) have accepted UnionPay Online Payment for visa application on its official website since last month. 

A Chinese tourist has shared his ‘cashless’ travel experience in Canada on Weibo, one of the most popular social media in China. He found that the local merchants are very friendly to UnionPay cardholders, and some shops and supermarkets have set UnionPay Card Express at the check-out counters. To date, the five top banks in Canada have all launched UnionPay acceptance business. The UnionPay offline acceptance network covers various fields, including daily necessities, catering, accommodation, supermarkets, entertainment and transportation. Some popular online merchants such as Compass Holidays and NGH Tours accept UnionPay cards too. Canada is also the first in North America to have accepted UnionPay mobile QuickPass, which enables tourists to make tap-and-go payments.

To attract more customers, the local merchants are providing exclusive benefits and offers for UnionPay cards. For instance, McArtherGlen Outlets and Oakridge Centre in Vancouver, as well as Premium Outlets in Toronto all provide up to 5% incentives for purchases with UnionPay cards. Birks, the renowned jeweler in Canada, has recently joined U Plan, the cross-board marketing platform of UnionPay International. UnionPay cardholders may download the U Plan e-coupons before paying with UnionPay cards in store to enjoy exclusive offers at all the shops of Birks and Brinkhaus. 

In addition, the Canadian residents also have access to UnionPay services. Both Bank of China and ICBC have issued UnionPay cards in Canada, and the transaction volume of these Canada-issued UnionPay cards in Canada grew by about three times year-on-year. UnionPay credit cardholders can also pay individual and business taxes online using PaySimply, a local online tax payment platform of Payment Source. 

In the meantime, UnionPay cards have become a key payment method of Canadian residents who travel to China. During this Spring Festival, the transaction volume of Canada-issued UnionPay cards in China grew by about one time year-on-year. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) has also provided UnionPay cross-border remittance service, which enables Canadian residents to transfer money to the UnionPay cards issued by 13 banks in mainland China. 

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