Hong Kong’s TurboJet now Accepting Visa payWave Payments

Visa payWave cardholders can now use their contactless cards to purchase ferry tickets for trips from Hong Kong to Macau and Mainland China. Hong Kong is the first marketplace in the Asia Pacific region to offer Visa payWave acceptance at ferry service operators.

Cardholders can purchase tickets with a wave of their contactless card at ticketing offices at the Hong Kong Macau Ferry Terminal in Shun Tak Centre, China (HK) Ferry Terminals in Tsim Sha Tsui and at the arrival area at the Hong Kong International Airport.

Sunny Cheung, Country Manager of Hong Kong and Macau for Visa said, “Since its introduction in Hong Kong last year, Visa payWave has gathered great momentum with acceptance in various merchant segments including supermarkets, fast food chains, restaurants, personal care stores, and now ferry services. We are committed to creating more Visa payWave acceptance points for our cardholders so that they can benefit from the ‘wave, pay and go’ experience.”

Travelling by ferry is one of the more common modes of travel in Hong Kong. For instance, during the first four months of 2009 more than three million people visited Macau by ferry, a growth of 2.3% compared with the same period last year.

“As a ferry service operator, we understand that time is very important to our customers, and we can see that the convenience and user friendliness Visa payWave offers can help our travellers to better manage their own time,” said Anna Hong, Deputy General Manager of TurboJET. “We are excited to work with Visa to introduce this innovative payment technology at our ticketing offices. We hope to bring synergy that will benefit thousands of leisure and business travellers we serve every day.”

Visa payWave is a secure contactless payment technology that speeds up transactions by removing the need to physically swipe or insert the card into a payment reader. Customers hold their Visa payWave-enabled card at a close range from the contactless reader to make payment. In Hong Kong, cardholders can pay for transactions of up to HK$500 without having to resort to signature verification.

The first Visa payWave card in Hong Kong was launched in February 2008. The two Visa payWave card products currently available in Hong Kong are Hang Seng enJoy Visa Card and KFC Visa Card. Visa payWave contactless payment is now available at various retail stores (IKEA), restaurants and café chains (Oliver’s The Delicatessen, Maxim’s MX), supermarkets (Wellcome, Market Place by Jasons, ThreeSixty, China Resources Vanguard), health and beauty stores (Mannings, GNC), fast food chain stores (KFC), cake shops (Maxim’s Cakes) and ferry services (TurboJET) in the territory.

Visa payWave can also be used as a regular Visa card at 28 million merchant locations and 1.4 million ATMs worldwide.

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