Costa Cruises advertised the launch of its new WeChat Mini Program aboard Costa Asia's fleet in China.
Via WeChat, Chinese passengers enjoy enhanced onboard experiences and hassle-free mobile payment, starting September 2, 2017 on Costa Atlantica.
WeChat (popular in China as Weixin) is an innovative, integrated platform for instant messaging, payment and commerce services from Tencent Holdings Ltd., a leading Chinese provider of Internet value added services. As of 2nd quarter 2017, there were more than 963 million active users on Weixin and WeChat per month.
Representing a first in the cruise industry, on August 8 Costa launched the first Mini Program to book and pay for a cruise on the WeChat platform. The Mini Program is a life-changing feature which allows WeChat users to open and access services in WeChat without the need to download the full standalone mobile app, which provides faster user experience.
The new WeChat Mini Program allows guests to browse and book spa, specialty restaurants, duty-free shopping as well as other onboard services via complimentary intranet service. There is no need to subscribe to onboard internet services.