Alipay boosts China travel; adds 16-languages for International tourists

By Gloria Mathias

Alipay, the digital payment and lifestyle platform in China, has integrated 16 languages into its app, further enhancing the travel experience of international tourists exploring China.

These languages include Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian, Turkish, Malay, Indonesian, Thai, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese. This service upgrade enables international tourists to explore China like locals with Alipay, using the language that they are familiar with.

For example, Italian tourists can download the Italian version of the Alipay App and enjoy mobile payment services in Italian while making offline payments in China.

A study conducted by the Silk Road Research Institute of Beijing Foreign Studies University in June 2024 on international tourists’ travel and payment experiences in China found that international visitors are interested in trying local mobile payment methods like Alipay. The study revealed that 84% of those surveyed used at least one type of mobile payment in China. Among international travellers who used Alipay, nearly 97% would recommend it to their friends visiting China.

Alipay has also recorded a surge in consumption from international tourists in China. The spending of international visitors in China using Alipay increased by 8 times in the first half of 2024 compared to the previous year.

Since 2022, Alipay has partnered with international card networks to enhance its payment services for international travellers. Alipay also collaborates with industry partners to offer international travellers convenient travel services such as online translation, hotel booking, ride-hailing, purchasing tickets to tourist sites, riding shared bikes and taking public transport.

In addition to paying like a local with Alipay, international travellers can also use their home eWallet to scan Alipay QR codes and pay across China through Ant International’s Alipay+ solution. These 12 overseas e-wallets include AlipayHK (Hong Kong SAR, China), Kaspi.kz (Kazakhstan), MPay (Macao SAR, China), Touch ‘n Go eWallet (Malaysia), Hipay (Mongolia), NayaPay (Pakistan), Changi Pay (Singapore), OCBC Digital (Singapore), Kakao Pay (South Korea), Naver Pay (South Korea), Toss Pay (South Korea) and TrueMoney (Thailand).