HONG KONG, 29 April 2024: Huangshan Tourism Group, which operates “the loveliest mountain of China”, announced its partnership with Alipay, the leading digital payment and lifestyle service platform, to launch the “International Visitor Friendly Scenic Spot” initiative.
The initiative aims to enhance the travel experience of global visitors in China ahead of the May Day holiday.
The “International Visitor Friendly Scenic Spot” initiative is the first of its kind in China to help global travellers visiting Huangshan, China to enjoy convenient payment options, including card, mobile payment and cash, as well as claim tailored digital red packet to enjoy shopping discounts and check travel guide and tips in 16 languages.
Huangshan Tourism Group will also collaborate with Alipay to launch local Hui culture experience tours and activities for international tourists.
“The beautiful scenery of Mount Huangshan and splendid Hui culture are must-have experiences when travelling in Huangshan. We hope to enhance global travellers’ experience through digital solutions on the Alipay platform,” said Jiajia Li, vice president of the Alipay business group at Ant Group.
An increasing number of overseas tourists are visiting China given the expansion of the country’s visa-free policy and continued recovery of international flights. Official data showed the number of foreign nationals visiting China in the first quarter of 2024 increased more than three times year-on-year.
Huangshan is the top tourist attraction for international visitors to Anhui Province. After China and Singapore enacted the mutual visa-free policy in February 2024, visa-free travel between the two countries saw the transaction volume via Alipay from Singaporeans visiting Huangshan increase by over 400% year-on-year during the first week.
China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China, has been guiding banks and mobile payment companies to take measures to optimise payment experience for international visitors.
Recent data from Alipay shows that in March 2024, the number of transactions made by international tourists using Alipay in the Chinese mainland increased by nearly 10 times compared to last year, and the number of transactions increased by eight times year-on-year.
Alipay enables international visitors to pay merchants across China after downloading the app and linking an international credit or debit card from Visa, Mastercard, JCB, Discover®, and Diners Club International®.
Beyond providing a secure mobile payment service, Alipay collaborates with industry partners to offer various travel services to global tourists to enhance their travel experience in China. These easy-to-access services include online translation, car-hailing, public transport, hotel booking, and train ticket booking, all of which are available on Alipay’s homepage.
In addition to using Alipay to pay like a local in China, international tourists can also use their home e-wallet while travelling around China. These home e-wallets include AlipayHK (Hong Kong SAR, China), MPay (Macao SAR, China), Touch ’n Go eWallet (Malaysia) and Kakao Pay (South Korea), Hipay (Mongolia), Changi Pay (Singapore), OCBC (Singapore), Naver Pay (South Korea), Toss Pay (South Korea), TrueMoney (Thailand), and NayaPay (Pakistan).
About Alipay
Alipay has evolved from a trusted payment tool to an open platform that connects businesses, institutions, service providers, and other partners with consumers. Alipay enables partners from various industries to offer safe and convenient payment options. It also allows partners to communicate and deliver different digital services to their customers in China through Alipay mini-programmes, lifestyle accounts and other tools. The Alipay platform has connected over 80 million businesses with more than one billion consumers.
