ATTRACTING CHINESE TOURISTS

An article was published in DV titled: “ePassi – Markaðssetning og greiðsluleiðir sem henta kínverskum ferðamönnum”, where Danielle Neben had been interviewed to talk about Marketing and Payment solutions suitable for Chinese tourists. The English translation of this article can be found below. ePassi is one of the leading mobile payment companies in the Nordics and one of the fastest growing companies in Europe. Today, ePassi has over 30.000 merchant relationships and over 900.000 employees using its benefits app. In 2016, Alipay started offering their services in Europe with key partners to follow the growth of Chinese tourists. They immediately contacted ePassi as one of the shareholders, Alexander Yin, who is Chinese and well networked in Europe. Within 3 months, ePassi was offering Alipay services to its clients. Finnair was then the first airline in the world to offer Alipay in flight for Chinese New Year 2017. Since then ePassi has rolled out both Alipay and WeChat to over 2.000 clients. Why Alipay and WeChat Pay? When it comes to mobile payments, there is no doubt that China is light years ahead of other countries and is well on its way to becoming a cashless society. Alipay and WeChat Pay are the top two mobile payment giants in China, with a combined 90% share of the market. ePassi in Iceland In 2019, the number of Chinese tourists was about 99,000 or about 4.5% of all tourists in Iceland, which is an large portion. As such, it is key to take better care of this rapidly growing group of tourists who make their way to Iceland. Just before the planned influx of Chinese tourists, on October 1, 2018, ePassi and Isavia began collaborating to offer ePassi payment methods for Blue Lagoon, 66° North, Rammagerðin, Penninn and Optical Studio. The response was overwhelming and the merchants were very pleased with this new payment method. Today, most retailers in Leifsstöð offer Alipay and WeChat. In addition with collaboration between ePassi and Kulturelle, Isavia organized a special cultural training course for airport employees, which has greatly increased the satisfaction of Chinese tourists in Iceland. How to reach Chinese social media users? The Chinese do not use traditional Western social media, which makes it difficult for Western companies and retailers to reach Chinese social media users. Companies that offer Alipay payment options also get a company profile on the Alipay app. ePassi offers its customers assistance with translating marketing materials to put on their profiles. When Alipay users are in Iceland, they can view the companies and retailers located in the immediate vicinity. The Chinese also use WeChat (similar to Facebook) and other social media extensively to look up information and user reviews about restaurants, shops and places of interest. On average, the Chinese traveller spends about $ 3,500 on their travels, but 90% of their spending is earmarked for pre-determined popular products. In Paris, the Chinese buy Luis Vuitton. In Finland, they buy Moomin and Iittala. In Iceland they buy Bioefffect, Blue Lagoon, Sóley and 66 ° North. The Chinese want to buy products they know. If stores do not offer Alipay or WeChat Pay, it is likely that the Chinese tourist not buy. At the same time, sales to Chinese tourists increase significantly when companies of any size adopt the new payment methods that are suitable for Chinese consumers. The right payment method also makes it easier for Chinese consumers to buy products they are interested in then and there, and have not necessarily known about before. New way of marketing ePassi has worked on new possibilities for Chinese marketing for Icelandic companies. For example, a special advertisement was placed in Leifsstöð with an Alipay QR code. Chinese tourists can scan the code to see what is available at the airport. The Icelandic Times is the only Icelandic magazine published in Chinese. From the beginning, ePassi has been in good collaboration with the magazine in promoting Icelandic companies better to Chinese readers and tourists. The companies that advertise in the magazine receive a special QR code that allows Chinese readers to look up the companies' profiles and read about them in Chinese. Today, 175 Icelandic companies, from fashion stores and restaurants to hotels and tour companies, offer Alipay and WeChat Pay through ePassi services. It is important that Icelandic companies start planting seeds for the tourists of the future in order to promote and sell the products and services they offer.