LONDON, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Barclaycard announced on Thursday an agreement with China's leading third-party online payment solution Alipay to help more UK retailers accept its transactions to embrace the growing number of Chinese visitors in the country.

Barclaycard, which processes nearly half of the UK's credit and debit card transactions, is already in discussions with around 70 clients interested in becoming early adopters, said a press release from the company.

By accepting Alipay, the world's leading payment platform, British retailers will be able to capitalize on the growing purchasing power of Chinese tourists who prefer mobile payments to cash, it said, citing a survey that 93 percent of Chinese tourists said they would likely spend more in a store that accepted mobile payments.

Rob Cameron, CEO, Global Head of Payment Acceptance at Barclaycard, said: "Our new agreement with Alipay gives retailers a vital tool to help them seize the revenue opportunity posed by the growth of Chinese visitors to the UK. At the same time, Alipay users will benefit from a more convenient and familiar in-store payments process - enhancing their overall shopping experience."

VisitBritain, the UK's tourism body, is expecting 483,000 visits from China in 2019, a growth of 43 percent than the figure in 2017. Chinese visitors are expected to spend more than 1 billion pounds this year, up by 50 percent, moving it well into the UK's top 10 tourism markets.

The increase in market size is also demonstrated by the fact that the number of Alipay users in the UK has doubled in the last year, according to Barclaycard.