‘This cooperative partnership campaign is fantastic news for our State’s visitor economy and its business owners,’ Mr Grant said.

‘UnionPay International is the international business arm of China UnionPay, which has more than 4.5 billion cardholders worldwide, and China, the company’s headquarters, is NSW’s number one inbound tourism market,’ Mr Grant said.

‘NSW is the only state in Australia to have secured this innovative partnership, which is designed to incentivise visitors from China by offering rebates to cardholders who purchase travel to Sydney and NSW. Further incentives will be offered to cardholders who shop with their UnionPay card while they are in our great State.’

UnionPay International Chief Executive Officer Cai Jianbo said: ‘UnionPay International is committed to improving its global cardholder privilege system, enhancing UnionPay card’s value-added services and providing better card-using experiences.’

‘UnionPay International has also launched its “20 Global Tourist Cities and 10 Resort Islands” cardholder privilege campaign, which features Sydney as the only Australian city to be included.

‘We are delighted to have so many Sydney and Regional NSW merchants involved in both campaigns which offer discounts and incentives to cardholders and more convenient ways to use their cards,’ he said.

Destination NSW Chief Executive Officer Sandra Chipchase said: ‘We look forward to growing the opportunities with our strategic partner, UnionPay International, to actively promote Sydney and NSW through our partnership campaign and the “20 Global Tourist Cities and 10 Resort Islands” campaign, which will further boost the visibility of NSW in China.’

‘Through this campaign, and the work underway to encourage UnionPay International customers to use their card while visiting Sydney and regional NSW, we hope to gain an even larger share of the inbound Chinese visitor market arrivals and expenditure, further cementing our State’s position as the number one tourism destination in Australia.’

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