China UnionPay popular during Labor Day holiday

BEIJING - China UnionPay Co Ltd, the country's largest bank card payment processor, said Wednesday its home interbank transactions grew robustly during this year's Labor Day holiday, which lasted from April 29 to May 1.

The value of domestic interbank transactions using China UnionPay cards hit 145.04 billion yuan ($23.14 billion) during the three-day holiday, up 29 percent from the same period of last year, the company said.

The company attributed the increase to strong consumption demand by tourists, as the transaction value rose 68 percent at travel agencies and 47 percent at ticket booths for large tourist destinations.

Transactions also increased substantially in ticket sales at airline booking offices and road passenger stations as well as sales at gas stations, it added.

Meanwhile, the value of overseas transactions using the China UnionPay cards rose 28 percent from the corresponding period of last year.

The company also said transactions rose strongly at popular overseas tourist destinations, including Japan, Thailand and Singapore, during the holiday.

Transactions exceeded 100 million yuan, respectively, in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and the Republic of Korea.