Malaysia is the second largest market in Southeast Asia for Chinese tourists spending over the Chinese New Year holiday season, as recorded by Alipay, the digital payment and lifestyle platform offered by Ant Financial, an affiliate company of Alibaba Group. The transactions were recorded between Feb 4 and 10 this year. Malaysia saw a 16% increase in average per-capita spend by Chinese tourists this year, with a growth in transaction volume by 71% compared to 2018.
What’s more, Chinese millennials can no longer claim to be the dominant user group spearheading spending while travelling, as 68% of Chinese tourists born between 1960 and 1979 were found to be the main driving force in outbound tourism and overseas consumption.
Alipay head of business operation for cross-border business Janice Chen said this year’s findings highlight how mobile payment is taking root in China’s outbound tourism market, and it is excited to see the robust growth in the use of Alipay by overseas tourists from third-and-fourth tier cities and middle-aged vacationers.
“While providing a better experience for Chinese travellers, Alipay is, at the same time, a huge drawcard for overseas merchants as a platform to help grow their business,” Chen said in a statement.
This is in accordance to a recent report published by Nielsen and Alipay, called the 2018 Trends for Mobile Payment in Chinese Outbound Tourism.
Chinese tourists are bringing their cashless lifestyles outside of China, paying for 32% of their overall travel transactions using mobile payment, overtaking their use of cash for the first time ever.
The survey found that merchants offering Alipay as a payment option has experienced growth in both foot traffic (58%) and revenue (56%).
Heinemann, a travel-retailer with a store in Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) has also reported an increase in sales. Its general manager for retail operations Alexander Maas said since implementing Alipay, it is now able to provide added convenience to its customers from China, and provide them with a familiar shopping experience, ultimately seeing over 20% of all its transactions completed on the Alipay app with Chinese tourists.
With the increased popularity of Alipay among both young and old Chinese tourists, brick-and-mortar retailers across the region can continue to adopt Alipay as a payment option to further boost profitability moving forward.