WeChat Pay Hong Kong has recorded a fourfold increase in mainland Chinese tourist payments for taxi services in the city from last year and growing usage among locals and visitors alike, according to parent company Tencent.

Vice-president of Tencent Financial Technology Daniel Hong Danyi said on Thursday that the number of transactions from mainland tourists paying for taxi fares through WeChat Pay had seen a fourfold increase, year on year.

“We saw that previously, many mainland tourists coming to Hong Kong realised taxis here do not support mainland payment methods. So over the past year, we spent a lot of time and effort to enable more taxi drivers to accept payments from WeChat,” he said.

The platform has been offering taxi drivers perks such as zero handling fees, including for customer transactions and moving money into bank accounts.

Hong added more than 20,000 taxi drivers across the city now accepted both the local WeChat Pay HK accounts and the mainland version, contributing to an overall significant rise in transaction volume.

The tech giant also reported growth in the adoption of its “mini programs” by Hong Kong merchants, which doubled year on year in both usage and transaction amounts throughout the first five months of 2025.

Mini programs are apps that run within the WeChat ecosystem, providing a range of functionalities, including e-commerce, travel booking and local services, without requiring users to download a separate app or exit the platform.