Two million merchants in Europe accept UnionPay cards – not even one in Romania

UnionPay International announced on September 2 that, consumers can now pay with UnionPay cards at about two million merchants in Europe. In particular, over 70% of the merchants in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Spain, the six major tourist destinations, accept UnionPay, which satisfies tourists’ payments needs in Europe. UnionPay acceptance footprint also expands from duty free shops and department stores to more restaurants and entertainment establishments.

Now, UnionPay has presence in 38 countries and regions in Europe. „Almost all the ATMs in Switzerland, Austria, and Iceland, over 80% of the local ATMs in Italy, Spain and Greece, accept UnionPay cards. In France, UnionPay cards are accepted at over 60% of ATMs, and some ATMs in Paris provide interface in Chinese. Cardholders can also withdraw cash with UnionPay cards in Ireland, Finland, Sweden.”, according to the press release.

This year, countries in Northeastern and Southern Europe become competitive rivals to the traditional tourist destinations like France and Germany, due to preferable exchange rate and security situation. UnionPay’s acceptance footprint in these countries has witnessed remarkable improvement: there are 130,000 and 90,000 more merchants in Italy and Spain accepting UnionPay, making UnionPay’s merchant acceptance coverage reach 60% and 70% respectively. By cooperating with global acquirers like WorldPay, UnionPay-accepting merchants in the UK are increasing rapidly. UnionPay cards are also accepted at about 90% of merchants in Denmark and 60% of merchants in the Netherlands.

With more tourists choose to travel independently, merchants accepting UnionPay have become diversified. Besides the majority of department stores, duty free shops and brand stores, more restaurants and entertainment establishments have accepted UnionPay cards, including Michelin Starred Restaurants in Paris, Madame Tussaud’s in Amsterdam, and bookstores and souvenir shops of Louvre, Versailles, Musee d’Orsay, Museu Picasso, Musee de l’Orangerie. This year in France, about 20% of the merchants that newly accepted UnionPay are restaurants and hotels.

Another important market in abroad for UnionPay cards is US. It is learnt on September 1 that almost all the ATMs in the US accept UnionPay cards for cash withdrawal and over 80% of the local merchants accept UnionPay credit cards.  Since 2010, the number of Chinese tourists to the US keeps on growing: it surpassed one million in 2011 and was about 2.6 million in 2015. This year is the China-US Tourism Year, and with the implementation of the 10-year multi-entry visa policy, it is expected that the Chinese tourists visiting the US will reach 3 million this year. In the up-coming Mid-autumn Festival and National Day holiday, the US is one of the most popular long-distance travel destinations.