Alipay and online travel agencies launch China tour packages for international tourists

Alipay has partnered with online travel agencies such as Trip.com and Tuniu (途牛), to launch selected tour packages and a travel guide on the Alipay app for international tourists travelling to China. 

It comes as Trip.com’s data revealed that inbound tour orders from January to October this year increased 125% year-on-year compared to 2022. It shows that cross-border travel, including inbound travel to China, is witnessing a continuous surge globally given the increase in flights and favourable policies.

The first batch of the launch includes a total of 20 packages aimed at helping international tourists navigate their travels in China. They include tours with an English-speaking guide at famous tourist attractions such as the Palace Museum (故宮) and Badaling Great Wall (八達嶺長城) in Beijing, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding (成都大熊貓繁育研究基地) and Jiuzhaigou National Park (九寨溝風景名勝區) in Sichuan Province, Shaolin Temple in Henan Province (少林寺), and Shanghai Disney Resort (上海迪士尼樂園).

Furthermore, Alipay and Trip.com have launched a China travel guide in the app with comprehensive travel advice in the country. The guide provides detailed information on topics such as pre-travel checklists, visa applications, attractions, hotels, mobile payment, communication, transport, and booking services.

On the other hand, Alipay and Trip.com have launched a social campaign named “New Year, Near Exploration”, inviting international tourists interested in exploring China to travel like a local using their mobile phones. By leaving a comment below the post with the number corresponding to their favourite attraction, participants will have an opportunity to win a journey to China.

Alipay has enhanced its offerings for international travellers, allowing them to sign up and link their international credit or debit cards to the Alipay app. The app also integrates various travel services such as hotel and air ticket bookings, car-hailing, exchange rate checking, and translation. 

Travellers from countries such as Malaysia and Singapore can utilise their respective home e-wallets while exploring China. These e-wallets include AlipayHK (Hong Kong), mPay (Macau), Touch 'n Go eWallet (Malaysia), Kakao Pay (South Korea), Hipay (Mongolia), Changi Pay (Singapore), OCBC (Singapore), Naver Pay (South Korea), Toss Pay (South Korea) and TrueMoney (Thailand).

Yaoyao Jin, who is in charge of international travellers' usage of Alipay, said: "We are delighted to work with partners across the industry to enhance international tourists' payment and travel experience in China. As the leading digital wallet in China, Alipay will continue to optimise products and services to better serve international visitors. We also encourage more merchants and service providers operating digitally on the Alipay platform to enhance their services for international travellers."

Jiqiang Wang, vice general manager of digital marketing at Trip.com, said: "With its leading global travel services, Trip.com seeks to collaborate with industry partners like Alipay to continue enhancing the experience of inbound tourists and draw more international travellers to China. Trip.com aims to increase the number of inbound tourists served in 2024 by more than 150% compared with 2019."

Don't miss: Alipay+ teams up with Zeropay to enhance tourists' digital shopping experience in Korea

Back in September, Alipay+ and five other digital payment apps including Alipay, MPay, Truemoney and Touch’n Go eWallet partnered with Korea Easy Payment Foundation, the official operator of Zeropay.

The partnership was aimed at launching Alipay+ globally to offer cross-border digital payments and marketing solutions to travellers. The partnership allowed tourists to shop cashless at over 1.7 million merchants in Korea.

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