LankaPay, SLTDA partner with Alipay+ to drive tourism

By Aarav Garg

LankaPay, the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) and Alipay+ have entered a partnership aimed at boosting tourism and increasing international visitor arrivals to Sri Lanka, particularly from the wider Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

The collaboration will utilise Alipay+, Ant International’s global wallet gateway, which is locally enabled through LankaPay. The platform connects more than 40 international partners, including e-wallets and banking apps across the region, reaching over 1.8 billion user accounts. Through this network, targeted campaigns will be launched to promote Sri Lanka as a travel destination, with a focus on attracting high-value tourists.

As part of the initiative, users of Alipay+ partner platforms will receive offers and promotions when making payments via LankaQR, Sri Lanka’s national QR payment network. These incentives are intended to encourage travel and increase spending by international visitors, contributing to tourism revenue.

The partnership aligns with SLTDA’s strategy to expand its reach in key Asian and APAC markets, as global travel patterns continue evolving. By increasing visibility and improving payment accessibility, the partnership aims to make Sri Lanka more attractive to tourists.

This is said to be the first phase of a broader partnership between LankaPay and SLTDA to support the long-term development of the Sri Lankan tourism sector. In addition to enabling cross-border QR payments, Alipay+ also provides AI-driven in-app marketing and travel services designed to increase convenience for travellers and promote digital payment adoption across the country.

The initiative is also expected to benefit local businesses, such as micro and small enterprises, by encouraging the adoption of LankaQR. This would allow merchants to accept cross-border payments and engage more easily with international customers.

More broadly, the partnership supports Sri Lanka’s efforts to expand digital payment usage among businesses as part of its wider financial sector transformation. The memorandum of understanding formalising the partnership was recently signed in Colombo, Sri Lanka.