The world’s tourism industry has a lot of gratitude for the Chinese community. Of course, being one of the most populous countries in the world, a massive chunk of global tourists may be Chinese nationals.
True enough, according to Economist Intelligence Unit, around a whopping almost 490 million domestic trips! – that’s right, were made in 2023 among Chinese people. And it continues to rise until today.
No other than Uber saw this as an opportunity, so it immediately decided to partner with Chinese instant messaging platform WeChat to introduce better ridesharing services for, who else, Chinese tourists.
Unveiled fully a few weeks ago, Uber launched a Weixin Mini Program – Weixin is the company with WeChat – allowing Chinese travelers from anywhere in the globe to book and pay for rides in key destinations directly via Weixin or WeChat. Whoa.
“By embedding Uber into Weixin, we’re making overseas travel easier for Chinese users at every step,” Pradeep Parameswaran, Uber’s head of mobility, told Ridesharing Forum. “We want to meet riders wherever they are, and for Chinese international travellers, that means Weixin. Our new Mini Program will ensure a seamless experience, from searching to payment, through an app that Chinese users already trust and use every day.”
Here’s how it works. This new feature will make Uber’s ride-hailing services internationally more accessible for Chinese travelers, who comprise a large chunk of the world’s travelers. Since its launch, the program’s become live in Hong Kong and Japan. As it develops, it will expand to nine more markets worldwide, including the United States, Great Britain, and France, in the following months.
Freedom Li, the president of Weixin Pay International Business, responsible for WeChat as well, stated, “We welcome Uber to the Weixin Mini Program ecosystem, which offers seamless convenience for our users to [travel internationally.] We are dedicated to providing a ‘local-like’ digital convenience globally, and Uber’s integration strengthens Weixin’s cross-border digital ecosystem.”
WeChat is your innovative messaging and social media app developed by Tencent, primarily used in China and East Asia, but also available internationally. It functions as an all-in-one platform, offering features beyond simple messaging, including social networking, payments, e-commerce, and so much more.
This news may be all over Google, but people are not sharing their thoughts too much. Social networking platforms like Facebook are generally silent in this regard.
You might want to share your thoughts instead. Sign up for your account today on this site to let your voice be heard!