ASIA United Bank (AUB) said it signed a partnership deal with Philippine Airlines (PAL) to allow Chinese travelers to pay for tickets using WeChat Pay, amid the increase in visitor traffic from China.
In a statement on Friday, AUB said its partnership with the flag carrier will expand the use of WeChat Pay in purchasing PAL tickets.
As of September, PAL had rolled out WeChat Pay to 55 ticketing outlets nationwide.
WeChat users can also locate PAL ticketing offices though AUB’s WeChat Pay official account.
“PAL’s additional payment acceptance channels would further bolster the country’s tourism efforts and promote innovative access to this thriving tourist market,” the bank said in the statement.
In November, AUB signed a licensing agreement with Tencent Holdings Ltd. to accredit merchants to accept payments using WeChat Pay’s quick response code-based technology.
The bank developed the AUB PayMate mobile application in late 2017 for merchants accepting payments from Chinese visitors via WeChat Pay.
In an April interview, AUB first vice president Maria Magdalena V. Surtida said half of the total WeChat Pay transactions are happening in Metro Manila, while the rest are in the provinces.
China was the country’s second-largest tourism market with a total of 764,094 arrivals in the seven months to July period, after South Korea.
AUB booked a consolidated net profit of P1.57 billion in the six months to June, up 17.5% from a year earlier.
AUB shares closed at P59 on Friday, up 50 centavos or 0.85%. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal

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