Dubai Parks and Resorts, the largest multi-themed leisure and entertainment destination in the Middle East, has signed a strategic partnership with leading Chinese payment gateway UnionPay to provide marketing services and facilitate payments for cardholders visiting the UAE.

Currently, Union Pay is the preferred payment platform for a majority of outbound Chinese travellers. With six billion subscribers globally, the company has the largest cardholder base in the world. The cards are accepted in 170 countries around the world and the brand partners with over 1,800 institutions globally.

The partnership between Dubai Parks and Resorts and Union Pay started on 1 August 2018 and target the growing number of Chinese visitors.

This partnership comes after the launch of the Hala China initiative, which was set up to drive investment and tourism between the UAE and China. China is one of the top tourism source markets for Dubai – with a total of 258,000 visitors to the emirate in Q1 2018 who significantly contributed to tourism revenues.

Ahmed Al Rayyes, Chief Commercial Officer at Dubai Parks and Resorts, said: “Chinese tourists make up a major segment of visitors to Dubai every year. We want to encourage these visitors to come to Dubai Parks and Resorts and enjoy a host of attractions for the whole family.”

“Furthermore, the strategic partnership with UnionPay reinforces our commitment to establish Dubai as a preferred international family destination, and we have signed recently other strategic partnerships with several industry leaders such as Emirates Airlines, Dubai International Airport and the Dubai Taxi Corporation.”