WeChat helps overseas businesses capture fast-growing opportunities with outbound Chinese travelers

Facilitating tourism boards,local attractions and merchants to better connect with Chinese tourists

SINGAPORE,Sept.6,2018 -- WeChat,China's largest mobile social communication platform developed by Tencent,is proud to facilitate overseas businesses in capturing the thriving opportunities of Chinese tourism through its ecosystem as well as a range of features tailored for outbound Chinese travelers.

Recent statistics released by the China National Tourism Administration indicate that Chinese tourists traveled all over the world 131 million times last year,up by 7% from 2016. In line with this,the International Tourism Association shows that Chinese tourists' overseas spending reached 261.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2016,increasing 4.5% year-on-year and was ranked first among all tourists globally. These developments present significant opportunities for businesses as well as the global travel industry,with WeChat as an effective platform for tourism boards,local attractions and merchants to address the growth and demands of travelers from China.

To demonstrate WeChat's effectiveness in better connecting with Chinese tourists and its capability to provide support in formulating in-market solutions and reach out to key target audience segments,a WeChat Workshop was held yesterday in Singapore together with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB). Selected successful partner case studies were showcased,including Changi Airport,Mastercard,NETS and StarHub,highlighting the WeChat ecosystem and its unique features such as Mini Programs and WeChat Pay.

Donovan Kik,Vice President of Segment & Marketing,StarHub said,"We are pleased to be partners with WeChat,leveraging its popular platform to serve the communication needs of WeChat fans and visitors from China. Through our alliance,which is in its fifth year,StarHub did a few firsts for customers,from launching unlimited WeChat plans and co-branded tourist SIMs to engaging customers over our WeChat Official Account. Customer experience is key and we will continue collaborating with strong partners to make our customers' stay with us enjoyable."

Alvin Seck,Head,Merchant Services & Solutions,Network for Electronic Transfers Singapore Pte. Ltd. (NETS) stated,"We are pleased to be able to share our expertise with STB's partners. As Singapore's largest payments network,NETS' commitment to our merchants is to provide them with solutions that enable them to do business more efficiently. Our partnership with WeChat allows us to offer merchants in every segment (retail,transportation,supermarkets,convenience stores) the ability to tap into the growing Chinese tourist market more effectively and quickly roll out new payment services for their consumers' convenience."

Dominic Koh,Vice President,Consumer Marketing,Asia Pacific,Mastercard said,"Mastercard is honored to have been a first mover to adopt the Mini Program initiative on WeChat. We are grateful to the WeChat team,who have been fantastic partners and have helped us significantly. WeChat has allowed us to further reach our cardholders and provide them value through a technology platform that is easy to develop,deploy and engage consumers with."

With around 1.06 billion monthly active users as of Q2 2018,WeChat offers an excellent integrated platform for overseas merchants or service providers to raise brand awareness among Chinese travelers,and helps them deepen their understanding of Chinese tourists and visitors,for them to develop targeted marketing strategies that tap into travelers' behaviors and preferences.

Partners share successful case studies demonstrating WeChat’s effectiveness in better connecting with Chinese tourists and its capability to provide support in formulating in-market solutions and reach out to key target audience segments.

Lionel Sim,WeChat Global Marketing (right) and Law Yock Song,Senior Manager,Southern China,Singapore Tourism Board,share with an audience of more than 150 Singapore businesses from the travel sector about how WeChat can facilitate businesses in capturing the thriving opportunities of Chinese tourism through its ecosystem as well as a range of features tailored for outbound Chinese travelers.

About WeChat

Launched in 2011,Weixin/ WeChat has been enhancing the lives of hundreds of millions users with its innovative features. The most widely used Chinese social media platform integrates instant messaging and social entertainment,bringing about a mobile digital lifestyle on an easy to use app. Users get to engage in real-time communications via free text and multimedia messages,make video/voice calls or share photos on their "Moments". Other lifestyle recreational features include "Games","Sticker Gallery",and other functions. Continuously evolving around users' needs,Weixin/ WeChat also offers enterprises "Official Accounts" to create original consumer experiences through its open platform. The core innovative features also include Mini Program to connect online and offline merchants and extended services such as Weixin/ WeChat Pay to create a truly mobile digital and smart living. Weixin/ WeChat reached more than 1.06 billion monthly active user accounts as of August 2018. Weixin/ WeChat has evolved into a connector and open platform across industries,connecting users with one another,with smart devices and with business services.

Learn more about WeChat and download the app at WeChat.com.

Dive into the world of WeChat through WeChat's blog,Go.WeChat.com

Media contacts

Portia Huang

+852-3148-5100 ext. 50740

portiahuang@tencent.com

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