By This Monday, leading financial institute in the country, Bank of Maldives announced the addition of WeChat pay into their POS Network. Also known as Weixin Pay, this new addition is a digital wallet and online transaction and mobile payment service offered by the China-based messaging service WeChat.
Wechat Pay is a digital wallet and online transaction and mobile payment service
The service began its flagship payments at the duty free stalls at Velana International Airport. BML currently accepts digital wallets such as BML Pay, AliPay, Apple Pay and Google Pay.
Introduced in 2016, WeChat Pay hit 1.133 billion users in 2023 alone. 48 percent of WeChat users hail from China. India and Russia utilize the app and its features in second and third position with 10 million and 9.5 million users respectively.
As of February this year, the amount of Chinese tourists inbound to Maldives stands at 71,136 tourists; about 10.9 percent of the market share while Russia remains at second place and India at 6th most tourist arrivals.
The Minister for Tourism Ibrahim Faisal expressed that this is “.. another step in establishing Maldives as their (China’s) top destination” and added that he looks forward to further enhancing their stay in Maldives. The Director of Retail, Business and SME Banking at BML, Mr. Moosa Nimal said, “Today’s announcement means we are now able to offer our customers the choice and convenience to choose their preferred way to pay,”.