I Go South Africa, launched in Johannesburg on November 15, is part of ICBC’s I Go Global reward scheme for its card holders in China. It will offer Chinese travelers wishing to visit South Africa a range of discounts and special offers from South African merchants across the travel, hospitality and lifestyle sectors. 

The program provides a number of benefits specifically for ICBC cardholders traveling to South Africa for leisure. These include up to 21 percent cash back on certain transactions, free Wi-Fi, card protection insurance, accommodation deals with a premium hotel and restaurant group, and discounted return flights from Hong Kong to South Africa, among many other incentives. 

"ICBC is the biggest bank in the world, with approximately 139 million credit cards and as many debit card customers," said Lincoln Mali, Standard Bank’s Group head of card and emerging payments across Africa in personal and business banking, explaining the rationale behind the new loyalty program. “Similarly, Standard Bank is the biggest bank in Africa, making this a perfect partnership.” 

"Tourism from China has increased drastically over the last few years, and we expect more than 100,000 Chinese tourists in South Africa next year, with an average transaction value of $1,300 each," said Mali, adding that this means good news for the South African economy and for thousands of merchants of Standard Bank. 

"In many cases, Chinese investment and trade has played an integral part in encouraging economic and infrastructure development in Africa, and in growing trade and investment flows between China and the continent," he said. 

A similar program of I Go China was also unveiled at the ceremony to attract the Standard Bank cardholders to enjoy tourist and shopping experience in China. 

General Manager of the ICBC Banking Card Department Wang Dufu said that to further improve the internationalization strategy of ICBC, they are constantly increasing and extending their primary product line abroad. 

Wang said that both campaigns increase the partnership and economic cooperation of the two countries. 

Welcoming the I Go South Africa program, South Africa’s Tourism Minister Tokozile Xasa said that tourism holds immense potential for growing the country’s economy inclusively. 

Xasa noted that the benefits and new avenues opened up by tourism are far-reaching and vast, adding that “tourism growth from China will help us in our ongoing drive to create new, sustainable jobs in the tourism value chain.”