UnionPay cross-border transactions surge during holiday

Chinese spent big abroad during the May Day holiday, with the number of UnionPay overseas transactions jumping 73 percent year on year, the operator revealed on Monday.

The total volume of transactions at home and abroad through China UnionPay cards was 263.5 billion yuan (43 billion U.S. dollars) from May 1 to May 3, up 18.7 percent year on year.

Cross-border UnionPay card transactions maintained robust growth in the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Japan.

China UnionPay is responsible for all bank card transactions on the Chinese mainland and has extended its reach to 150 countries and regions.

China has been the world's largest outbound tourist market since 2012, according to the World Tourism Organization. According to official data, the number of Chinese traveling abroad in 2014 increased by 19.5 percent year on year to 109 million, nearly 13 times the level in 1998. Enditem