NAIROBI (Reuters) – The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has launched a credit card in partnership with Kenya’s Stanbic Bank to tap a growing pool of Chinese tourists visiting the East African nation.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Some 53,485 Chinese visitors came to Kenya last year and ICBC, which owns a stake in Stanbic Kenya’s parent, South Africa’s Standard Bank, expects the number to rise to 60,0000 this year, doubling from 2015 levels.
Gang Sun, deputy chief executive of ICBC Africa, said users of the card will be able to pay for hotels and other services while visiting Kenya.
He said the adoption of Chinese payment options such asUnion pay and WeChat by Kenyan tour operators could also help increase the flow of tourists.
“More and more Chinese choose to travel abroad for their vacations… with average consumption of $1,250 per person,” Sun said while launching the card in Nairobi.
ICBC’s number of credit card customers increased to 88.59 million last year, making it China’s largest domestic credit card issuing bank, it said in March.
Reporting by John Ndiso, editing by Louise Heavens
