Thailand
Thailand: Alipay proves popular on summer break
Thailand ranked second for Chinese travellers making payments through the Alipay platform during their holidays overseas, the e-wallet company of Ant Financial Service Group has reported.
Alipay, an affiliate of Alibaba, revealed Hong Kong, Thailand and South Korea were the top three markets for overseas transactions in July and August. The other markets in the top 10 comprised Japan, Macau, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia and the US.
Millions of Chinese travel abroad during the two-month summer holiday.
With Alipay’s growing presence outside the Chinese mainland, overseas Alipay spending skyrocketed this summer from last year. Alipay processed 2.6 times more in- store overseas transactions this summer than the same period last year.
The number of Alipay transactions in Russia increased by over 5,000% as Chinese travellers flocked to the host country for this year’s World Cup. Countries in Northern and Western Europe, including Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland, recorded double-digit growth in terms of Alipay transaction volume.
In terms of average spending per person, the highest was in France, at 11,386 yuan (54,637 baht), followed by South Korea, Denmark, Italy, United Arab Emirates, Greece, Spain, Australia, the UK and Japan.
European countries accounted for more than half of the top 10 countries in terms of average total spending per user. Average total spending per user increased 43% to 2,955 yuan (14,183 baht) from last year.
Alipay found those born in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s accounted for 85% of overseas Alipay users during the summer months this year.
Of over 80 airports that support instant tax refunds via Alipay, airports in South Korea recorded the highest amount of tax refunded.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/1533538/alipay-proves-popular-on-summer-break