Alipay 2019 Lunar New Year Highlights: Mobile Payment Is Now a Norm for Chinese Outbound Travelers

Alipay, the world’s leading mobile payment and lifestyle platform, today reveals preliminary statistics on Chinese consumers’ mobile payment behavior during China’s week-long Lunar New Year celebrations that ended on February 10.

The findings are drawn from the 40-plus markets where Alipay is accepted, providing a snapshot of the proliferation of mobile payment in China’s vibrant outbound tourism market.

Key findings during this year’s Lunar New Year holiday period reveal:

• Overseas consumption per capita through Alipay by outbound travelers from third-and-fourth-tier cities grew faster than that by those from the top-tier cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
• Middle-aged travelers, which are categorized into two groups - those who were born between 1960 – 1969 and then those born between 1970-1979, were the main driving force in outbound tourism and overseas consumption.
• Specifically, the number of Alipay users from the first group increased 230% year-on-year and total consumption by this age group increased 250% year-on-year. The growth rates were the highest among all age group categories.
• The number of Alipay users in the second group also experienced an impressive increase of 190% year-on-year and total consumption by this group increased 232% year-on-year.

“We are excited to see the robust growth in the use of Alipay by overseas travelers from third-and-fourth tier cities and middle-aged vacationers. This really highlights how mobile payment is taking root in China’s outbound tourism market,” said Janice Chen, Head of Business Operation, Cross-Border Business, Alipay. “While providing a better experience for Chinese travelers, Alipay is at the same time a huge drawcard for overseas merchants as a platform to help grow their business,” she said.

The statistics also reinforce the findings from the report jointly released by Nielsen and Alipay last month. The report, titled 2018 Trends for Mobile Payment in Chinese Outbound Tourism, uncovered how the older generations of travelers are catching up with their younger peers when it comes to using mobile payment and they are also the most significant spenders while travelling abroad.

About Alipay

Operated by Ant Financial Services Group, Alipay is the world’s leading payment and lifestyle platform. Launched in 2004, Alipay currently works with over 200 domestic financial institution partners. Over the years, Alipay has evolved from a digital wallet to a lifestyle enabler. Users can hail a taxi, book a hotel, buy movie tickets, pay utility bills, make appointments with doctors, or purchase wealth management products directly from within the app. In addition to online payments, Alipay is expanding to in-store offline payments both inside and outside of China. Alipay’s in-store payment service covers over 40 countries and regions across the world, and tax reimbursement via Alipay is supported in 29 countries and regions. Alipay works with over 250 overseas financial institutions and payment solution providers to enable cross-border payments for Chinese travelling overseas and overseas customers who purchase products from Chinese e-commerce sites. Alipay currently supports 27 currencies.

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Contact information

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Xinyun Yang
Ant Financial
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