Wirecard and Cimple Marketing have teamed with Estonia-based cruise ship operator Tallink Grupp to enable shops on its 14 vessels to accept China’s top three payment options.
The arrangement is meant to accommodate the travel company’s growing number of Chinese tourists.
Germany-based Wirecard is equipping retail outlets on the Tallink and Silja lines to simultaneously accept Chinese payment services including Ant Financial’s Alipay, Tencent’s WeChat Pay and China’s state-run UnionPay card network, Wirecard said in a Monday press release.
Tallink operates cargo and cruise ships carrying more than 10 million people annually on several routes in the North Baltic region including Estonia and Latvia to Sweden and Finland, where Chinese tourists are one of the fastest-growing categories of travelers, according to the release.
The shipping company’s cruise vessels include duty-free and other shops that are popular with Chinese tourists, creating an opportunity for Sweden-based Cimple to work with Wirecard to integrate the most popular Chinese payment methods on its ships, the release said.
The integration enables Chinese passengers to pay in their home currency and take advantage of coupons and offers, according to the release.
“When traveling abroad, Chinese tourists are most likely to spend their money on duty-free and retail shopping, and studies show that this target audience will buy even more if they can use their preferred payment methods,” said Stephan Ritzenhoff, Wirecard’s head of partner management for travel and mobility, in the release.
“The collaboration with Wirecard allows us to deliver a seamless payment process to enhance the guest experience onboard,” said Paul Noorkõiv, Tallink Grupp’s vice CIO, in the release.
