WeChat Pay sees surging daily deals during Labor Day holiday

BEIJING - China's popular instant messaging app WeChat reported surging daily average deals via its mobile payment service WeChat Pay during the Labor Day holiday as mobile payment continues to gain a foothold in different fields.

Daily average deals for offline services increased 79 percent during the holiday from May 1 to 4 compared with last year, WeChat said in a statement Tuesday.

More people chose public transport during the holiday as related deals skyrocketed by 215 percent.

Mobile payment is gaining popularity among the country's aged, as deals made by WeChat users above 60 expanded 154 percent year on year, the fastest pace among all age groups.

Hong Kong, Macao and Thailand were the top three overseas destinations where WeChat Pay was most used during the holiday. Usage also saw robust growth in Russia, Cambodia and the Philippines.

The combined monthly active users of domestic and overseas versions of WeChat stood at 1.098 billion by the end of 2018, according to the tool's developer Tencent.