LankaPay is poised to significantly enhance Sri Lanka’s appeal to Chinese tourists by launching WeChat Pay integration within two weeks. This initiative will enable over 400,000 LANKAQR merchants nationwide to accept mobile payments directly from Chinese visitors, according to LankaPay CEO Channa De Silva.
Building upon the earlier introduction of WeChat Pay in Sri Lanka through a 2019 partnership between Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC and Tenpay Payment Technology Ltd., which utilized specialized Point of Sale (POS) devices for select merchants catering to Chinese clientele, this expansion promises broader accessibility.
This development follows the recent launch of Alipay+ in Sri Lanka, a collaboration between Ant International and LankaPay. Currently, Alipay+ facilitates payments for travelers from 10 countries and regions via LANKAQR code scanning, with plans to extend this capability to 37 countries.
With approximately 935 million users in 2024, up from 920 million in 2022, WeChat Pay’s widespread adoption in China makes its integration a crucial step in streamlining transactions for Chinese tourists visiting Sri Lanka.