The South China Morning Post reported that from July, tourists would be able to use Visa and other international cards to pay for taxi rides, meals and tickets to tourist attractions.

WeChat Pay and Alipay are the two dominant mobile payment services in the Middle Kingdom but the use of foreign bank cards was, until now, not allowed by the government.

Royal Chen Qiru, vice-president of Tencent Financial Technology, told the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions on 28 June: “Tencent has been working hard to provide greater access to China’s online and offline merchants for overseas visitors under the guidance of relevant regulatory bodies and policies.

Alipay was the first to announce the opening of online payments to tourists, with its owner, Ant, an affiliate of the Alibaba Group Holding, saying that visitors could use Mastercard credit or debit cards.

The SCMP, which is owned by Alibaba, said overseas bank cards issued by Visa, Diners Club International and Discover, could also be used with Alipay.

The report said more than 911 million Chinese used online payment services in December 2022, accounting for about 85% of the Internet population, citing the China Internet Network Information Centre.