Lankapay enables Weixin Pay acceptance at 400,000 merchants to tap into Chinese tourism boom

 Pic by Nisal Baduge 

By Nishel Fernando

Sri Lanka’s national payment network LankaPay officially launched cross-border QR payment acceptance via China’s Weixin Pay, widely known as WeChat Pay, at an event held in Colombo yesterday. 

The landmark integration allows inbound travellers to seamlessly scan and pay at over 400,000 LANKAQR merchants island-wide. With Weixin Pay currently boasting nearly 900 million monthly active users globally, the partnership is set to eliminate point-of-sale friction for Chinese tourists, enabling them to utilise the exact same digital payment interface they are accustomed to in their home market. The strategic move arrives at a critical juncture for the local tourism sector, which is increasingly pivoting towards the Asia Pacific region to mitigate external economic shocks.  

Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) Chairman Buddhika Hewawasam highlighted that the industry is bracing for a potential 30 to 40 percent drop in the European market due to ongoing global crises. To offset this anticipated shortfall, the SLTDA is aggressively targeting the Asian demographic, anticipating substantial year-on-year growth to build upon the 132,000 Chinese tourists who visited the island last year.

Beyond boosting arrival figures, the digital integration is viewed as a vital macroeconomic tool to distribute tourism wealth into rural economies and curb foreign exchange leakage. Currently, tourism revenue leakage in Sri Lanka exceeds 30 percent, largely because major hospitality stakeholders heavily rely on imported goods. By enabling micro and small vendors—such as rural craftspeople, independent bakeries, and local produce sellers—to accept digital payments, tourists can directly inject funds into the grassroots economy.

Hewawasam noted that this technological enabler will finally allow rural communities, who currently lack the infrastructure to serve digital-first international travellers, to capture a larger share of the tourism spend and retain more foreign currency within the country.

For local businesses, the LankaPay and Weixin Pay integration offers a highly competitive financial model compared to traditional payment gateways. LankaPay Chief Executive Officer Channa de Silva pointed out that the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has capped the merchant discount rate (MDR) for international QR transactions at 1.8 percent, presenting a significantly cheaper alternative to standard international credit card fees. 

Furthermore, the direct integration eliminates the cumbersome and costly dual conversion process of routing transactions through the US dollar. De Silva appealed to the local banking and finance sector to actively onboard and educate their merchant networks to ensure the infrastructure is fully utilised when the influx of tourists arrives.

Representing the global payment giant, Weixin Pay Managing Director for Southeast Asia and North America Ben Yang expressed strong confidence in Sri Lanka’s market positioning to capture the next wave of Chinese outbound tourism growth. He emphasised that the collaboration extends beyond basic payment processing; the ultimate objective is to connect with Chinese tourists, convert their engagement into seamless transactions, and organically grow Sri Lanka’s overall tourism revenue. 

Moving forward, both entities plan to execute joint promotional campaigns, utilising WeChat’s massive digital ecosystem to market Sri Lankan travel experiences and local merchants directly to high-spending Chinese consumers.