The Malaysian payment feature will enable local businesses to engage with their customers under the same platform and make or transfer payments in ringgit.
In August this year, WeChat launched payment features called WeChat Pay My in Malaysia, the first market in Asia for the service outside of mainland China and Hong Kong. The payment feature integrated into the WeChat app is supported by merchants in over 40 countries, including Thailand. WeChat Pay has about 800 million active monthly users, most of them Chinese nationals, Tencent said. Chinese tourists spend more on average than other tourists, above 5,000 baht per person a day, according to data from the Tourism Authority of Thailand.Ĭhinese accounted for nearly one-third of last year's record 35 million arrivals, but the number began to fall in August this year, plunging almost 12% from a year earlier after a July boat accident killed more than 40 Chinese tourists in Phuket. "We already have local merchants in Thailand who accept WeChat Pay from Chinese tourists," he said.Ĭhina remains the largest contributor in terms of both arrivals and tourism revenue to Thailand. Mr Chen said Thailand is a key market for WeChat Pay expansion because it has a large number of users of Tencent's popular social network WeChat and is a major destination for Chinese tourists. The firm has no timeline to launch WeChat Pay in Thailand yet, he said. If we launch WeChat Pay in Thailand we will work with a local partner," Mr Chen said during an interview with the Bangkok Post in Hangzhou.
Royal Chen, vice-president for financial technology at Tencent Holdings, said Tencent is planning to partner with certain Thai businesses, particularly banks, to provide the service because payments need to be localised in different countries. Tencent Holdings, China's largest gaming and social media company, is considering launching WeChat Pay, a digital payments platform service, in Thailand. Mr Chen says Thailand is a key market for WeChat Pay's expansion.