Amid a surge in Chinese tourism to Kazakhstan with more than 876,000 visits recorded in the first 11 months of 2025, 8B is providing Kazakhstani merchants with the infrastructure needed to convert this traffic into revenue: Weixin Pay acceptance and access to the Weixin/WeChat ecosystem of 1.4 billion users.
SINGAPORE, March 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- 8B, a cross-border QR payment provider focused on emerging markets across Asia, has launched Weixin Pay acceptance for merchants throughout Kazakhstan. The integration allows businesses in tourism, retail, HoReCa, and transportation to accept payments directly from Chinese tourists via Weixin Pay, the payment service used by many Chinese consumers for everyday transactions.
In the first 11 months of 2025, Chinese tourist arrivals in Kazakhstan exceeded 876,000 visitors, already surpassing the full-year total of 655,000 recorded in 2024. The year 2025 has been officially designated the Year of Chinese Tourism in Kazakhstan, with both countries actively implementing bilateral initiatives to expand travel flows.
Chinese travelers are also among the highest-spending visitors to the country. The average Chinese tourist spends around $1,000 per trip, with the total contribution to Kazakhstan's economy in 2025 estimated at $500 million.
Until now, however, Kazakhstani merchants faced a structural challenge: there was no simple way to enable Weixin Pay, the primary payment tool used by the overwhelming majority of Chinese travelers abroad. 8B addresses this gap.
What Weixin Pay Integration Means for Merchants
Weixin Pay is more than just a payment method. It represents the financial layer of the broader Weixin/WeChat ecosystem, which determines how hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers discover, evaluate, and interact with businesses abroad.
A merchant that accepts Weixin Pay gains more than payment capability - they gain visibility within the Weixin/WeChat ecosystem itself.
Through integration with 8B, Kazakhstani merchants become eligible to appear in the Weixin Pay Global Gift Pack mini-program, an in-app feature within Weixin/WeChat that recommends partner merchants to Chinese users during their international travels.
For an airline, tour operator, or retail business, being featured in Global Gift Pack is comparable to receiving a native recommendation inside an app that travelers open dozens of times a day throughout their trip.
The logic is simple: a Chinese traveler who cannot pay with Weixin Pay will often choose a competitor who offers it. Merchants without Weixin Pay are effectively invisible to a significant share of Kazakhstan's fastest-growing tourist segment.
Kazakhstan: The Numbers Behind the Launch
In 2024, Kazakhstan welcomed 28.6 million international visitors, making it one of the most active tourism markets in Central Asia. Among them, Chinese visitors represent the fastest-growing segment with the highest average spending. The rapid growth in Chinese tourism is not a temporary surge. It reflects the structural recovery of China's outbound tourism after years of restrictions, combined with Kazakhstan's targeted efforts to position itself as a key destination for Chinese travelers.
Direct air connectivity between China and Kazakhstan has expanded significantly, with flights operating to Almaty, Astana, and regional destinations. While infrastructure for hosting Chinese tourists has been developing quickly, the infrastructure needed to capture and convert their spending, particularly payment acceptance, has lagged behind. 8B was built specifically to close this gap.
First Partners and Market Coverage
The rollout of Weixin Pay in Kazakhstan begins with the travel and transportation sectors, where the majority of Chinese tourist spending is concentrated.
At the same time, merchants in education, tourism services, retail, restaurants, and entertainment are being onboarded in Almaty and Astana, the two cities with the largest influx of Chinese visitors. The platform was designed for scale from the outset: any merchant in Kazakhstan can connect Weixin Pay through 8B without the technical or compliance barriers that historically made cross-border acquiring inaccessible for small and medium-sized businesses. In Kazakhstan, this is supported through Zesta LLP, a licensed local payment organization (License No. 02-23-179), ensuring full regulatory compliance for every transaction.
"Kazakhstan is experiencing a real boom in Chinese tourism, and the merchants who benefit most will be those who allow guests to pay the way they do at home. For Chinese travelers, Weixin Pay is not an alternative payment method - it is part of everyday life. The mission of 8B is to ensure Kazakhstani businesses keep pace with this demand rather than losing it due to payment infrastructure limitations." - Bogdan Zadorozhny, Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer, 8B
"Kazakhstan is exactly the type of market where Weixin Pay creates immediate and measurable value for Chinese travelers. When our users travel abroad, they expect the same seamless payment experience they enjoy at home. Through our partnership with 8B, merchants across tourism, HoReCa, and retail in Kazakhstan can now meet this expectation and position themselves directly in front of millions of Chinese consumers choosing Central Asia as their next destination. We are proud to support Kazakhstan's rise as a top destination for Chinese tourists." - Deven Chen, Director, WeChat Pay Business Group for Northeast Asia and Central Asia
Kazakhstani merchants interested in enabling Weixin Pay through 8B can get started at www.8b.world or reach the team directly at dk@8b.world.
About 8B
8B is a cross-border QR payment provider serving fintech, e-commerce, and travel platforms. The company operates across Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia, connecting businesses to local payment rails operated by central banks and leading fintech companies.
About Weixin Pay
Weixin Pay is the mobile payment solution integrated within the Weixin/WeChat application and is one of China's leading mobile payment services. Its mission is to provide users and businesses with secure, convenient, and professional payment experiences. In China, Weixin Pay covers nearly every aspect of daily life, both online and offline. The cross-border Weixin Pay service is available in 78 countries and regions, supports 36 currencies, and covers a wide range of scenarios including restaurants, retail, transportation, tourism attractions, and education payments - helping international merchants effectively serve Chinese consumers.
Contact
Daria Kashurina, dk@8b.world, +34 698 993 638
Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2936534/WeChat_8B_Logo.jpg
View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/8b-opens-weixin-pay-in-kazakhstan-tourism-aviation-e-commerce--digital-goods-302717038.html
