China UnionPay
The official launch of Welcome Chinese took place on October 18, 2013 at the National Stadium in Beijing. This followed the additional support that Select Holding gained from state-owned companies like China Central Television (CCTV) and China UnionPay. An agreement with Hilton Worldwide was then secured so that the hotels within its Huanying program could be involved in the Welcome Chinese program. This same period also saw the founding of Welcome Chinese Ltd, based in Hong Kong, while the operational activities were kept in the Select Holding’s offices in Shanghai.