The two entities originally established a partnership in 2019 to provide improved digital payment solutions to both consumers and merchants. This newest development builds on that foundation and aims to allow international travellers to China to ‘pay like locals’ regardless of where in the world their Mastercard card was issued. In essence, Mastercard cardholders can now link their existing credit or debit cards to the Alipay digital wallet and pay cashless via their mobile devices at millions of Alipay acceptance locations across the country.
Representatives from Ant Group, which is the owner and operator of Alipay, talked about this recent partnership with Mastercard and emphasised its potential to support an improved experience for international travellers when visiting China while opening up more business opportunities for merchants on the Alipay open platform.
Specifically, the collaboration between Alipay and Mastercard stands to benefit businesses, particularly SMEs, as it will give them more opportunities to transact with international visitors. Overseas card transactions completed on the Alipay digital wallet are processed through Mastercard’s omnichannel payments platform. The platform allows merchants to accept payments from anywhere in the world thus supporting the growth of businesses as well as the safety and security of consumers.
In addition to benefiting from convenient payment options, travellers holding Mastercard cards issued in South Korea and China’s Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, and Taiwan will be able to benefit from additional privileges such as cashback for spending on popular travel activities.
According to the fourth annual travel report from the Mastercard Economics Institute, the global sector is currently going through a rebound phase as leisure travel bookings were up by about 31% in March 2023 when compared to the same period in 2019. This increase in bookings is driven by high-income consumers, and the report suggests that popular travel destinations, including mainland China, stand to benefit from this trend.
The report also found that, in mainland China, tourist demand for experiences has neared pre-pandemic levels in March 2023 (93% of March 2019 levels), with luxury and other retail still lagging behind at 69% and 58% of March 2019 levels, respectively.
Travel demand remains consistent at a market level, primarily driven by travellers leaving Europe, North America, Latin America, and the Middle East. Flight bookings in Asia Pacific are on an increasing trend as strict mobility restrictions over the last three years contributed to built-up demand for travel.
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