UnionPay Processed 1.16 Trillion Yuan Worth of Transaction During the 2019 Lunar New Year Holiday

According to the latest data released by China UnionPay on Feb. 11th, the transaction volume processed by UnionPay over the weeklong Chinese New Year holiday (from Feb. 4th to Feb. 10th) surged 71.4% to a record high of 1.16 trillion yuan (US$170.6 billion) — the first time the figure exceeded the benchmark of 1 trillion yuan.

Release time : 2019-02-14 16:17:09

source : UnionPay website

ding on travel-related packages and hotels grew by over 90% and outbound travelers used UnionPay cards in 137 countries and regions, which is 10 more than last year. Countries and regions along the Belt and Road became emerging travel destinations. UnionPay’s transaction volume in markets such as Myanmar, Morocco, India, Turkey and Finland witnessed a significant increase. Meanwhile, overseas tourism related consumption become more diversified: UnionPay saw substantial transaction volume increase at railways, airlines, gas stations, public transportation and supermarkets.

With the continuous expansion of the acceptance of UnionPay mobile payment services, more and more consumers prefer safer and easier mobile payment products, especially the UnionPay mobile application. The number of payments through UnionPay's mobile products increased 2.5 times and the volume jumped 4.4 times. Outside mainland China, the transaction volume of UnionPay contactless and QR code payment methods grew by about 120% year-on-year, and consumers prefer to pay with UnionPay contactless payments in Singapore, Australia and Russia, and pay by scanning UnionPay QR code in Hong Kong and Thailand.

Also, more and more visitors came to China to experience the Spring Festival. With more than 100 million UnionPay cards issued outside mainland China, cardholders from 37 markets used UnionPay cards in mainland China during the holiday, driving the transaction volume grew by over 20%. These visitors also include a large number of Hong Kong and Macao residents who paid by scanning UnionPay QR codes with the UnionPay app.