Alipay+, Ant International’s global wallet gateway, has expanded its payments and digital services ecosystem.
The company believes that travel is key in local economies and mobile wallets can unlock growth by connecting travellers and businesses. Alipay+ aims to support the travel ecosystem with new AI-powered payments and digital services to enable online and offline merchants, tourism partners, and other fintechs to create customer-centric solutions for consumers.
Improving services for travellers
The upgrade includes three initiatives that support global tourism. Firstly, Alipay+ is expanding its partner ecosystem to 40, representing 1.8 billion users, and growing cross-border payment acceptance to more than 100 markets. The second initiative includes the support of Bluecode, PayPay, and KBank users, enabling users to pay with their banking and wallet apps when travelling internationally.
The company also added new services to its portfolio, such as Alipay+ Voyager, an AI travel agent that integrates with partners such as Trip.com, Agoda, and Grab, and Alipay+ GenAI Cockpit, an AI-as-a-Service solution for digital wallets to build AI-native solutions. Additionally, Alipay+ expanded Global Blue in-app tax refunds to offer an end-to-end experience for more of its partners.
Over 6.5 million digital wallet users used Alipay+ cross-border payments for the first time in early 2025, driving a 30% rise in transactions across online travel agents and in-store merchants. Travellers can now pay like locals, while businesses reach more customers. Alipay+ is also expanding ties with national payment networks, with transactions via standardised QRs nearly doubling across markets such as South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka.
A propriety for travellers is to save as much as possible, without compromising on experiencing local sights. Redemptions via A+ Rewards, an in-app marketing platform where travellers can browse local promotions and coupons, increased 57%, while transactions spent at local businesses under USD 10 increased by 37%, according to Alipay+ data that includes a comparison between H1 2024 and H1 2025.
Additionally, travellers are spending across more varied experiences beyond retail. While attractions and F&B remain a priority, spending on local services like beauty, medical and education is rising. For instance, K-beauty payments in South Korea surged 115% YoY. Independent travel is also growing, with ride-hailing transactions doubling and public transport going up nearly 50%. Broader Alipay+ acceptance now lets travellers explore smaller destinations such as Shikokuchūō in Japan, Jeollabuk-do in South Korea, or Semporna, Malaysia.
