Uber joins Alipay to allow Chinese tourists pay in yuan

BEIJING: Chinese tourists, whose numbers last year touched 120 million, will be able to pay for Uber rides in yuan through Alibaba's mobile payment services when travelling abroad, the ride-hailing service said.

Uber and Alipay teamed up earlier this year to offer Chinese yuan payment options for Uber rides in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

The option has been expanded to more than 400 cities in 68 countries and regions in which Uber operates, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

China has emerged as the world's biggest source of outbound travellers. Last year over 120 million Chinese tourists travelled out of China. But most of them go through group tour packages.

This has prompted Chinese bank card association UnionPay and mobile payment services such as Alibaba's Alipay to work with retailers and merchants in popular destinations to offer the option of paying their bills in Chinese yuan, rather than in the foreign currency.

Uber also wants to tap China's travel boom by encouraging Chinese tourists to book rides using its service in foreign countries.

Previously, Chinese riders had to pay Uber fares in US dollars.

Uber rival Didi said last month that it has allowed Chinese tourists using its mobile app to access ride-hailing services through its partner Lyft in the US, with bills payable through mobile payment services from China's Alibaba and Tencent.