Alipay and Thailand authorities partner up to elevate tourists' payment experience

Alipay has partnered with Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to allow tourists from China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and South Korea to pay with their home mobile wallets via Alipay+ when they visit Thailand. Ant Group will also help local Thai businesses better engage with tourists through digital marketing solutions. 

The partnership aims to promote the  Amazing Thailand campaign, in an effort to stimulate travel in Thailand as Alipay found that Chinese travellers on average spent 24% more on Alipay when being abroad during the first half of 2023 compared with same period of 2019, signaling new growth trends in China's outbound tourism.

The expanded partnership will help bring more smooth consumer experience to Chinese tourists, and open up more resources to Thai merchants, especially the vast numbers of SMEs to help them develop digital operation and marketing capabilities, according to Tanes Petsuwan, TAT deputy governor for international marketing Asia and South Pacific.

"As tourists revisit their favorite destinations, Ant Group continues to innovate our offerings to enhance their travel experience. Beyond payments, Alipay users can now use their app as a one-stop platform, for example, to search for hotels and call for taxis. Consumers’ accelerated adoption of digital services will shape the future of travel and retail, and we aim to enable our partners to cater to these new habits, better connect with international visitors and promote growth for them,” said Cherry Huang, general manager of Alipay+ offline merchant services of Ant Group. 

Furthermore, Alipay is launching a series of campaigns in the summer of 2023 with regional partners on the back of the travel revival. The campaigns feature a variety of promotions on travel-related services, including shopping, attractions, and transportation. The app now offers ride-hailing and taxi services across 2000 cities outside China.

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As China's mobile payment leader, Alipay now connects Chinese users to over five million merchants across over 70 international markets. The app is launching a series of campaigns in summer 2023 with regional partners on the back of the travel revival. 

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Ant Group for more information. 

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