British high street retailers are not equipped to deal with a boom in Chinese tourism, with a majority not accepting the country’s most common payment methods.
Shoppers found that they were not able to pay with Alipay or WeChat at four in five of the non-luxury retailers in some of London’s top tourist destinations.
The luxury retailers, more attuned to the needs of rich travelers, have adapted better, with 41% of them accepting both payment methods, and 21% taking Alipay alone.
About 90% of Chinese city dwellers use one of the two apps as their main payment methods, and even in the countryside around half of them use them regularly.
Chinese tourists are expected to spend up to £1 billion in the UK this year, an increase of 52%.
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