(Photo: Alipay)
Alipay announced on Tuesday its mobile payment function is now available to tourists who visit China with the launch of a new international version.
As everyone from small vegetable vendors to shopping mall merchants are relying on mobile payments, foreigners have found it difficult to find any smartphone app to pay for online purchases in China without a Chinese bank account.
The latest move by Alipay could remove one of the biggest headaches facing foreign visitors in China.
This also marks the first time visitor to China are able to access the country's massive cashless economy.
Short-term visitors to China can download a version of the Alipay app to pay for things using QR codes, according to a statement today from parent company Ant Financial, an Alibaba affiliate that runs the app.
Travelers are able to use Alipay's “Tour Pass” program, which allows them to use a prepaid card service from the Bank of Shanghai. Visitors can top up the card in Chinese yuan via with their usual credit or debit card.
Visitors will need just an overseas phone number, a visa and their bank card to sign up for the“Tour Pass” mini-program.
The minimum top-up for each pre-paid card is 100 yuan ($14), with a maximum of 2,000 yuan ($285). The prepaid cards will expire after 90 days and the remaining money will be automatically refunded.
Digital payments in China are dominated by the Alipay and WeChat Pay mobile wallets.
With more than a billion users, the digital payment systems have largely replaced plastic cards and cash at registers, changed how friends and families give gifts to one another and even changed how panhandlers ask for money.
Even Apple accepts Alipay in its local stores in China, after its own payment system failed to gain traction.
In a note to media, Alipay said that inbound tourists to China are increasing every year, thanks to eased visa requirements to boost tourism.
In 2018, 30.5 million international visitors arrived from overseas, an increase of 4.7% from a year earlier, according to government data.
These tourists are also spending more, with expenditure in areas such as hotels, shopping, and food rising 5.1% to a total of US$73.1 billion last year, the data showed.
Alipay was launched in 2004 to facilitate payments between buyers and sellers on e-commerce marketplace Taobao. Today, together with its local e-wallet partners in Asia, Alipay is used by more than 1.2 billion users.
Ant Financial is an affiliate company of Alibaba Group. In September, Alibaba purchased a 33% stake in the fintech company.
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