Sydney, Feb 7 (IANS): Australian grocery giant Woolworths said on Tuesday that it will now accept UnionPay cards, China's leading debit and credit cards, at its stores.

Woolworths will offer all forms of UnionPay payment, including the contact-less mobile based transactions at its terminals, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to UnionPay, Australia has the largest number of terminals that accept their cards, outside of China.

The grocery chain will initially only have the terminals set up at their Woolworths outlets, but plans a full rollout to their other brands, such as discount department store chain Big W and liquor retailer Dan Murphy's in the foreseeable future.

Paul Monnington, head of digital payments at Woolworths, said the changes are long overdue, with the high number of Chinese tourists visiting Australia each year.

"Last year the number of Chinese visitors to Australia surpassed 1 million for the first time," Monnington said.

The sentiment was shared by UnionPay International South Pacific general manager James Yang, who said the need for more access to UnionPay would increase in the future.

"This is a great win for our customers visiting, studying or living in Australia. As tourism from China grows, we know we will see more and more people using UnionPay cards across Australian stores."

UnionPay cards are accepted in over 160 countries and regions around the world.