Alipay’s transaction volume in Thailand ranks no. 1 in Southeast Asia and no.2 globally

Following China’s week-long Golden Week holiday (October 1 to 7), with Alipay’s increasing presence across key global destinations, overseas spending through the app continued to increase, compared to the same period last year.

The transaction volume in Thailand rank no. 2 globally, no. 1 in Southeast Asia, after Hong Kong, 1.4 times of last year average spend per user: RMB 1584, 0.95 times of last year, rank 23 globally.

Convenient stores, duty-free shops, drugstore were widely accessed places and modes highly preferred by Chinese tourists. Suvarnabhumi airport: ranked 3rd among all airports globally per transaction volume globally, after Hong Kong Intl airport and Changi Airport, transaction volume 1.3 times of last year, average spend per user 1091 yuan, 1.3 times of last year.

Before the golden week, 3,000 airport taxis started to accept Alipay, and hundreds of rides had been paid by Alipay during golden week. It is becoming a significant trend in Thailand for Chinese visitors to pay taxi rides by Alipay.

Alipay, the world’s largest mobile payment and lifestyle platform operated by Ant Financial Services Group, announced the overseas transaction summary for this year’s Golden Week. It processed 2.2 times as many overseas in-store transactions during this year’s holiday compared to last year.

Asia continued to dominate the top ten list of destinations in terms of transaction volume. Hong Kong topped the list again, with Thailand retaining its #2 ranking. Japan rose to #3 this year.

Less visited destinations in Europe saw some of the fastest growth in Alipay use compared to the year before, thanks to the mass rollout of Alipay to merchants across the region over the last 12 months. Switzerland saw 27 times the volume of transactions than in 2017.

Average total spend per user increased 30% to RMB1,979 (approx. US$288) from last year’s RMB1,534 (approx. US$223). Average total spend per user was highest in Denmark at RMB8,764 (approx. US$1,276), followed by France and Italy. EMEA destinations accounted for most of the countries in the top 10 in terms of the highest total spend per user.

For each continent, Europe average: RMB3,630 (approx. US$528), US & Canada: RMB1,888 (approx. US$275), Australia and New Zealand: 1,819 yuan (approx. US$265), Southeast Asia: 1,527 yuan (approx. US$222), East Asia: 1,850 yuan (approx. US$269).

Iceland and the Maldives started to provide Alipay payment services for Chinese travellers ahead of this year’s Golden Week. Alipay is currently available for use to Chinese travellers in over forty countries and regions globally.

There were twice as many women as men who used Alipay overseas. Those born in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s accounted for 96% of all those who used Alipay overseas. The number for those born in the 1960s using Alipay overseas during Golden Week doubled compared to last year.