As the benefits of the visa-free policy fully take effect, "China Travel" continues to gain momentum on social media platforms both domestically and internationally. The number of foreign visitors to China has seen a significant increase, effectively boosting multiple industries such as tourism, transportation, and catering.

Thus, Bank of China has launched the "BOC Compass" app, aiming to create "one-stop" services and enhance the convenience of consumption for foreign nationals in China.

The app has launched one-stop services, including maps, translation, SIM card registration, tour itineraries, hotel bookings, and purchases of flight tickets, train tickets, and attraction tickets.

Crucially addressing the language barrier, the app, through multilingual interaction improvements, provides translation services in 30 languages, including English, Japanese, Korean, French, Spanish, Russian, and German. It supports various usage formats, including voice, text, and image translation.

To enhance user convenience, the "BOC Compass" app removes the need for registration and login to use multiple features such as translation, information, maps, and navigation.

Moreover, it provides informational guides covering entry requirements, payment, communication, transportation, food, and more. For shopping, it displays the most popular product recommendations within sections for popular tourist cities.

Notably, the "BOC Compass" app also provides several financial services, such as making an appointment for account opening and tax refunds upon departure.

During the account opening appointment process, user information can be collected directly, resolving language communication issues during form filling, reducing waiting times at bank branches, and improving efficiency.

In shopping scenarios, the "BOC Compass" app displays information for all tax refund shops eligible for departure tax refunds in a map interface and supports one-click navigation. It also provides detailed explanations of the departure tax refund process and eligibility requirements.

Moreover, the departure tax refund service enables online pre-filling of forms for small-amount refund transactions.

Additionally, the app provides a handy financial map service, enabling users not only to find nearby self-service foreign currency exchange machines but also to locate nearby Bank of China branches, ATMs, and foreign currency exchange agents.

Source: Xinhua Finance