Go City unveils Weixin mini programme as part of China market expansion

Sightseeing pass company Go City has launched a Weixin mini programme to elevate travel planning experience for users in mainland China.

This launch comes as the start of Go City’s China market expansion and will set the tone to fulfil its mission of making it easier for travellers to access the best experiences around the world.

The Weixin mini programme has been re-imagined to cater to the needs of the modern traveller, with fully integrated content management, order management and back-end service systems to provide information, imagery and availability for many attractions, said Preeti Naini (pictured middle), regional product manager, APAC of Go City.

“We are fully integrated with Weixin Pay to enable instant payments. It’s simple, easy and immediate; allowing customers to download and redeem passes directly at the attractions without leaving our mini program. We are planning to build on this experience and introduce similar solutions to expand our reach,” Naini added.

Upon launching the mini programme, users within mainland China can now browse, purchase and redeem Go City’s sightseeing products within the programme and Weixin’s integrated ecosystem.

Once a city is selected, the user chooses from either the “All Inclusive” pass which allows them to visit as many attractions as they like within a specific number of days; or the “Explorer” pass which allows users to choose a specific number of attractions to visit within 60 days.All attraction listings come with detailed descriptions, redemption and reservation instructions, access to local customer service and other useful information.

As Go City is the first sightseeing pass company globally to launch a Weixin mini programme, the move strengthens Go City’s ability to showcase its 1500+ attraction partners comprising of theme parks, landmarks, museums, tours, activities and hidden gems to the front of Weixin users, said Neville Doe, group chief financial officer, Go City.

“China has always been one of the most dynamic and important markets for us, and in this post-pandemic world, being able to offer our products on a native platform and transact using Weixin Pay enables us to further improve consumer trust with our Chinese customers,” he added.

Dawn Jeremiah (pictured right), vice President, marketing and ecommerce of Go City, said: “We have been gearing up on our customer acquisition strategies for Chinese travellers throughout the pandemic and our launch is timely with our full recovery of the market – I'm pleased to share that our direct channel has surpassed 2019 revenue levels from Chinese customers with a healthy trajectory into Q4 and well into 2024.”

Recently, Go City announced that inbound travellers into China, including those with passports and various permits, can now utilise Weixin Pay and link their international bank cards to make purchases at millions of merchants.

Etienne Ng (pictured left), regional director, Southeast Asia of Weixin Pay said, “We are delighted to work with Go City to provide Chinese travellers with an easy and enhanced travel experience when planning their travels abroad.”

“Singapore is uniquely positioned for global partners to tap into Weixin’s ecosystem and unlock business opportunities from the outbound Chinese travellers' market. We are confident to see more success stories from this region with the digital upgrade of local merchants amid the return of Chinese travellers,” he added.

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