Tourists Can Now Make QR Payments With Wise in Sri Lanka
Tourists visiting Sri Lanka can now utilize Wise for QR payments at LankaQR merchants nationwide. This new service allows Wise customers from the UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Brazil to scan and pay locally. LankaQR, Sri Lanka’s national interoperable QR payment network, facilitated this integration through its existing partnership with Alipay+. The rollout was announced by Channa de Silva, CEO of LankaPay, who highlighted its potential to significantly boost Sri Lanka’s tourism sector. This initiative provides international visitors with another convenient payment option while supporting local businesses.
This development signifies a crucial step in enhancing digital payment infrastructure within Asia’s tourism-dependent economies. By integrating Wise with LankaQR, Sri Lanka is making its payment ecosystem more accessible to a wider international audience, particularly from key tourist markets. This move not only streamlines transactions for visitors but also empowers local merchants, many of whom are small and medium-sized enterprises, to accept diverse payment methods without significant overhead.
The partnership between LankaPay and Alipay+, which underpins this integration, demonstrates the growing trend of cross-border payment collaborations. Such alliances are vital for fostering regional economic integration and supporting the recovery of the travel sector post-pandemic. For Wise, expanding its footprint in a burgeoning tourist destination like Sri Lanka reinforces its position as a global player in international money transfers and payments, further challenging traditional banking models with its focus on convenience and lower fees.
