SHANGHAI, Oct. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Tap-and-go with mobile phones at merchants on the Red Square, purchase transportation cards with UnionPay cards in the subway stations in Moscow and St. Petersburg, buying flight tickets via UnionPay Online Payment at the official website of Aeroflot...UnionPay is offering convenient and safe payment service to tourists visiting Russia. UnionPay will be accepted at over 85% of ATMs and POS terminals in Russia, half of which will support UnionPay mobile QuickPass.
According to the data issued by Russia Tourism, an increasing number of Chinese tourists are visiting Russia. In the first half of 2017, the Chinese tourists to Russia grew by 21%, increasing to 552,000. Moscow and St. Petersburg are the two most popular destinations. More and more local merchants in Russia are endeavoring to create a friendly travelling environment through accepting UnionPay cards.
Currently, the four top banks in Russia have all launched UnionPay business. In this May, Sberbank started accepting UnionPay cards, substantially improved customers' payment experiences. In the first half of this year alone, 140,000 more merchants and 55,000 more ATMs in Russia are enabled to accept UnionPay, increasing the total number of UnionPay-accepting POS terminals and merchants to 500,000 and 90,000 respectively.
UnionPay Mobile QuickPass becomes a new highlight of UnionPay services in Russia. Cardholders can now tap-and-go with mobile phones at Azbuka Vkusa, Media Markt, KFC, Macdonald's and Burger King. So far, UnionPay Mobile QuickPass is accepted at the POS terminals of 200,000 local merchants, covering supermarkets, restaurants, gas stations.
Many merchants in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Vladivostok are offering privileges for UnionPay cardholders. For instance, Café Pushkin, known as one of the "Top 25 Restaurants in Europe", is offering UnionPay cardholders 5%-off discount.
In Russia, more local residents are signing up for UnionPay cards. Over the past year and a half, UnionPay cards issued in Russia has rapidly increased from 400,000 to 1,000,000, and the transaction volume of these cards in Russia grew by about 5 times. UnionPay cards are becoming the daily payment method of more and more Russian residents. In this July, UnionPay International reached a card-issuance agreement with NSPK, realizing the acceptance of MIR cards in the UnionPay network across over 160 countries and regions. So far, Rosselkhozbank, a member of NSPK, has issued the first UnionPay-MIR debit card.
