Foreigners spend 700% more on Alipay in China over Labour Day holiday as inbound tourism slowly recovers

Outbound spending also increased on Ant Group’s mobile payment app, as Chinese tourists took more trips to places like Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea

Beijing has introduced measures aimed at boosting inbound tourism, including visa-free travel for a number of European and Southeast Asian countries

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Spending through Alipay from foreigners in China saw a huge surge over the recent Labour Day holiday period. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 12:04pm, 6 May 2024

Inbound tourist spending through the mobile payment app Alipay surged during the Labour Day holiday in China this year, according to the app’s owner Ant Group, as overseas tourists slowly return to the country after the pandemic.

Spending that international travellers made with Alipay during the Labour Day “golden week” across mainland China jumped 700 per cent year on year, Ant said in a statement on Sunday. Ant is the fintech affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding, owner of the South China Morning Post.

The app benefited from an increased number of international tourists brought in by China’s new visa-free entry policies, the company said.

The number of visitors – from 15 countries across Europe and Southeast Asia included in China’s visa exemption scheme – who used Alipay during the holiday was up fourfold this year, according to Ant.

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Tourism trouble: post-pandemic hurdles of China travel

Since the middle of last year, Beijing has introduced a series of measures aimed at boosting inbound tourism, including allowing travellers from countries including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Singapore and Malaysia to enter the country without a visa for 15 days for business, tourism, family visits and transit.