The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and UnionPay International have signed a partnership agreement to collaborate on consumer behavior research, enhancing the cooperation between the tourism and financial sectors, improving the competitiveness of tourism destinations through upgraded financial services and holding of international events. 

Considering the relevance of Asia and the Pacific as the second most visited region in the world and one of the fastest growing in tourism, this new agreement will allows UNWTO and UnionPay to provide new insights into the consumption patterns of tourism in the region while promoting a closer relationship between tourism and financial services, essential feature of destinations’ competitiveness.

Currently, the global acceptance network of UnionPay cards extends to more than 150 countries and regions, covering 26 million merchants and 1.9 million ATMs.

There are over five billion UnionPay cards which provide a significant basis to conduct consumer research, namely on the Chinese outbound market in which UnionPay is a preferred means of payment when travelling abroad.

Among the first activities within this new agreement, UnionPay collaborated with UNWTO in a series of side events during the recent 21st UNWTO General Assembly held in in Medellin, Colombia, 12-17 September 2015.