Alipay: March Inbound Payment Consumption Increased Tenfold Year-On-Year

On March 31, Alipay disclosed data on the consumption amount of overseas individuals in China. The data showed that in March 2024, the cumulative transaction amount of overseas guests using Alipay in China increased nearly tenfold compared to March last year, while the number of transactions increased nearly eightfold and the number of active users increased nearly sixfold.

According to the introduction, since March 2019, Ant Group has directly used overseas electronic wallets to scan Alipay QR codes (“outsourcing for internal use”) for implementation over 5 years. They have introduced 10 overseas wallets from 7 countries and regions, including AlipayHK (Hong Kong SAR of China), Touch ‘n Go eWallet (Malaysia), Kakao Pay (South Korea), MPay (Macau SAR of China), HiPay (Mongolia), Changi Pay (Singapore), Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (OCBC) Bank (Singapore), Naver Pay (South Korea), Toss Pay (South Korea), TrueMoney (Thailand). More than 175 million overseas wallet users in Southeast Asia and East Asia can now directly scan codes at domestic merchants for consumption, supporting both scanning payment and being scanned payment methods comprehensively.

Alipay introduced that as of March 2024, foreign tourists who have entered the country and bound international bank cards to Alipay App (“foreign card binding”) come from nearly 200 countries and regions; among them, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, the United States, Japan, Thailand, Germany, Australia, the United Kingdom and Indonesia are the top ten source countries.

These two solutions better meet the needs of overseas tourists using mobile payments in China,” said a person in charge of Alipay, which also helps more local businesses to do global business at their doorstep and become a bridge in cross-border trade activities and cultural exchanges.

Optimize the payment process for foreigners, enrich usage scenarios; pilot launch of small amount transactions without authentication to enhance and optimize transaction limits for foreigners; enrich digital services, with 16 language translations, overseas wallet ride codes “one-code pass” and other new services successively launched… Since the State Council issued the “Opinions on Further Optimizing Payment Services to Enhance Payment Convenience” on March 7th, payment services for foreign visitors in China have continued to improve.

According to reports, facing the upcoming Canton Fair, Ant Group will ensure payment services starting from the “first mile of entry,” providing guidance through new service counters and service guides. In addition, the group will also collaborate with international card organizations and overseas wallet partners to launch marketing campaigns on Alipay and multiple overseas wallet platforms, helping foreign visitors in China and deepen economic and trade exchanges between China and other countries.

SEE ALSO: Alipay Raises Transaction Limits for Foreigners: Up to $5000 Per Transaction