How Alipay brings benefit of Chinese tourist boom to SE Asia’s “smallest” merchants

Continuing their relentless expansion, and commitment to installing their services for the convenience of Chinese travellers and local merchants all around the world, Alipay have announced the addition of four further Asian countries to its global mobile and online payment network.

With the inclusion of local merchants within Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and the Philippines, along with Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, the number of Alipay ready countries with SE Asia rises to eight destinations. Put simply, that’s 520 million active users.

Alipay overtook PayPal as the world’s largest mobile payment platform in 2013 but this is obviously not the end of its growth. The company is working with over 250 banks, payment centres and merchants to bring fuss-free cross-border payments to Chinese tourists, who make payments via a smartphone app or online at alipay.com.

Commenting on the expansion, Cherry Huang, general manager for cross-border business for South and Southeast Asia, Alipay, said: “We have a mission to enable the smart lifestyle for Chinese consumers and bring the same convenience that they enjoy at home to the overseas countries they travel to. We plan to achieve this through our continuous efforts to expand our partner and merchant ecosystem.

“Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and the Philippines are exciting new additions to our network, as more and more savvy Chinese visitors opt to experience the rich history and culture of ASEAN. In 2017, all four countries collectively attracted over 2 million Chinese visitors. We look forward to connecting more merchants, even the smallest ones, through our partner ecosystem so that they are able to benefit from the boom in Chinese tourist arrivals.”

“We look forward to connecting more merchants, even the smallest ones”

– Cherry Huang, Alipay

Getting Connected

Mobile payment is gaining momentum among Chinese travellers overseas. According to the recent Nielsen report, 65% of Chinese tourists used mobile payment platforms during their overseas travels, more than six times in comparison to non-Chinese tourists (11%).

77% of Chinese tourists spent more via mobile payments on their most recent overseas trip than on previous trips over the past two years, and over 90% would consider using mobile payments when travelling overseas if more overseas merchants accepted it.

At present, the proportion of Chinese tourists using mobile payment (28%) is quickly approaching that of cash payments (30%). Compared with the previous two years, the proportion of cash payment has declined while the use of mobile payments has increased.