Canadian financial services institution OTT Financial has established a partnership with Tourism Montreal.
According to a September 18th, 2017 media release, Tourism Montreal has officially signed a partnership with OTT Financial, in order to introduce WeChat Pay and Alipay to local businesses.
The goal, according to Andrée-Anne Pelletier, Tourism Montreal’s manager of corporation public relations, is to “improve the travel experience for Chinese people visiting Montreal.”
WeChat Pay is the mobile payment service that’s part of Tencent’s WeChat social media software. Alipay is the Alibaba Group’s mobile payment software.
Together, WeChat pay and Alipay are the two most popular mobile payment services in China, boasting a combined total of over 960 million users.
“Tourism Montreal will facilitate the coordination between OTT Financial and all of our members and partners,” said Pelletier, in an email to MobileSyrup.
In the same release, Yves Lalumiere, president and CEO of Tourism Montreal, said that “this partnership has the potential to trigger increased tourist spending among Chinese visitors to the city.”
An approximate total of 123,000 Chinese tourists are expected to visit Montreal by the end of 2017.
“Montreal’s tourism industry stands to benefit greatly by catering to this fast-growing customer base,” said Lalumiere, in the same release.
Earlier this year, OTT Financial established a similar partnership with Tourism Toronto.