Customers of 14 common in a foreign country e-wallets from 9 nations and areas can now make bills in Hong Kong the use of their house apps via Alipay+, a set of cross-border cellular cost and digitalization era answers operated through Ant Global.
This covers a inhabitants of roughly over 1.2 billion, letting them revel in a secure and seamless cost enjoy in “Asia’s Global Town” because the choice of inbound vacationers to Hong Kong continues to upward thrust.
Powered through Alipay+, customers of those common e-wallets will revel in clean cost enjoy with clear and aggressive change charges in Hong Kong every time they come across the Alipay+ / AlipayHK brand on the traders within the town. Native traders, particularly small and medium-sized companies (SMEs), can seamlessly settle for bills from 14 international e-wallet operators via their current AlipayHK cost codes, thereby additional increasing their companies with out the desires of any further funding.
Widespread e-wallets and financial institution apps newly delivered to town through Alipay+ come with MPay (Macao SAR, China), Changi Pay and OCBC Virtual (Singapore), GCash and HelloMoney (The Philippines), Hipay (Mongolia), Kakao Pay, Naver Pay and Toss Pay (South Korea), MyPB through Public Financial institution Berhad and Contact ‘n Move eWallet (Malaysia), TrueMoney (Thailand), and Tinaba (Italy). Very similar to Alipay (Chinese language mainland), those newly enabled wallets at the moment are accredited at over 90% of the native shops in Hong Kong.
“Hong Kong is understood for its breathtaking sceneries, colourful town and group existence, and the east-meet-west tradition, in addition to buying groceries, meals, sightseeing, and public services and products, a thrilling position that any globetrotters shouldn’t omit,” mentioned Venetia Lee, CEO of AlipayHK and Better China Basic Supervisor of Ant Global.
“After we pay like locals, we will be able to commute and enjoy the tradition like locals. We’re so excited to assist customers of our 14 pockets companions to extend their presence to over 90% of native traders via AlipayHK’s community. This permits hassle-free bills, promotes the advance of Hong Kong’s tourism business, and is helping native traders improve the effectiveness in their promotional actions via virtual era,” mentioned Lee.
This represents the most important choice of global cost apps presented to town’s offline industrial community via cross-border cooperation at a unmarried time. In the interim, Alipay+ and its pockets companions have additionally introduced to create a joint mechanism on buyer services and products — Alipay+ Carrier Collaboration Mechanism — in Hong Kong to improve companions in bettering cross-border cost reports, bettering operational potency, and offering higher services and products to international virtual pockets customers and traders via operational collaboration and product innovation.
Since 2023, Hong Kong has observed a persisted enlargement of inbound vacationers following the release of world campaigns through the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) to welcome guests from all over the international. In 2023, greater than 34 million vacationers visited Hong Kong, and within the first quarter of 2024, a complete of eleven.23 million customer arrivals have been recorded in. This represents 1.5 instances year-on-year increment and demonstrates the continuing and sluggish enlargement of customer arrivals.
“Hong Kong is a world-class tourism vacation spot. As town’s tourism promotion group, the Hong Kong Tourism Board draws guests to Hong Kong via more than a few international promotions and advertising tasks. We are hoping the business can seize the alternatives introduced alongside through guests and roll out new merchandise to improve guests’ enjoy in Hong Kong in combination and stimulate intake to maximise the contribution of the tourism business to the economic system,” mentioned Ms Becky Ip, Deputy Director of the Hong Kong Tourism Board, who joined the release to have fun the most important cross-border cellular cost mission town has observed.
Kang Sang Ho, Managing Director of Shilla Trip Retail (HK) Restricted, mentioned, “We’re excited to be the primary commute store to introduce Alipay+ to Hong Kong. We will be able to now be offering a extra seamless and fruitful buying groceries enjoy to our shoppers and produce “Retail-tainment” to genuine existence. Foreseeing the sturdy go back of air passengers, we’re assured that there might be a promising enlargement in our gross sales throughout the strategic partnership with Alipay+.”
“As Alipay+ is helping extra cost companions extend into higher markets, we will have to all the time uphold our shared commitments to customers and traders, and improve our companions to supply extra dependable, clean and top quality reports for the cross-border customers. Via this proactive Alipay+ Carrier Collaboration Mechanism, we will be able to extra successfully remedy issues, create larger person values, and assist companions beef up their operational potency,” mentioned Jake Xue, Basic Supervisor for International Trade Carrier and Make stronger, Ant Global.
“Hong Kong is among the maximum cherished locations to Korean vacationers. We’re glad to listen to that Kakao Pay customers can proceed their handy cost enjoy in Hong Kong in the similar manner as in Korea. Via this growth, we think to supply a top quality cost enjoy for each Korean customers and Hong Kong traders,” mentioned Received-Keun Shin, CEO of Kakao Pay, South Korea.
“We have now been cooperating with Alipay+ to make certain that virtual bills take root all over the world and can proceed innovation in combination,” mentioned Shin.
“Hong Kong is among the hottest vacationer locations for Mongolians. Mongolian vacationers take pleasure in visa-free access, making it a beautiful spot to consult with. We’re delighted concerning the legitimate release of Alipay+ in Hong Kong, providing our customers the ease of paying with their house pockets,” mentioned Saikanjargal Enkh-Amgalan, CEO of Hipay, Mongolia.
Alan Ni, CEO of TNG eWallet, Malaysia, conveyed his appreciation, declaring, “We’re happy to be identified as considered one of Alipay+’s esteemed Global eWallet companions. Via this collaboration, TNG eWallet customers can with ease make bills and immerse themselves in new cultures, corresponding to the colourful streets of Hong Kong, all because of Alipay+. Because the advent of our in a foreign country QR cost characteristic in Hong Kong in October 2023, we’ve seen stable enlargement that underscores our dedication to serving our customers as the most well liked eWallet in Malaysia. We stay devoted to making sure our customers really feel supported anywhere they cross, provided with a well-known eWallet enjoy that actually makes them really feel like they’re experiencing existence like an area.”
Addressing the release of cross-border cost in Hong Kong, Monsinee Nakapanant, Co-President of Ascend Cash, the operator of TrueMoney, Thailand, mentioned, “Hong Kong has all the time been ranked within the record of most sensible locations for Thai vacationers because of its colourful town existence, buying groceries alternatives, culinary reports, and iconic sights. Nearly part 1,000,000 Thais commute to Hong Kong every yr. We really feel grateful for Alipay+’s expansive community and are excited to incorporate Hong Kong as considered one of our cross-border footprint and locations, the place Thais can use their house pockets to pay very easily, comfort, and larger peace of thoughts.”
“Our partnership with Alipay+ has considerably expanded the choice of nations by which our shoppers can use OCBC Virtual to make cross-border bills. Our shoppers’ expenditure in Better China, together with Hong Kong, has virtually doubled since six months in the past. In Hong Kong, transaction price in March was once 5 instances upper in comparison to February, in all probability because of the varsity vacations. Those figures display that our OCBC Virtual customers see price in the use of the app to make cross-border bills, and our tie-up with Alipay+ has enabled them to take action with no need to interchange money or obtain further e-wallet apps”, mentioned Sunny Quek, Head of International Client Monetary Products and services, OCBC, Singapore.
Solar Ho, Chairman and CEO of Macau Move, Macao SAR, mentioned: “I’m very extremely joyful to look that via collaboration with Alipay+, our e-wallet MPay permits citizens of Macao to revel in a continuing cross-border cellular cost enjoy in Hong Kong with out the desire for forex change, thus a great deal bettering the ease and safety of bills. This considerably complements the ease and safety of bills and in addition meets the desires for cross-border monetary transactions inside the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Better Bay House. MPay is dedicated to increasing in digital cost services and products, way of life services and products, and advertising era services and products, often opening up and enriching the applying eventualities of cross-border cellular pockets bills, permitting the arena to realize a deeper working out of the inclusive ecosystem and energy of Macao’s virtual economic system.”
“We’re delighted to additional reinforce our bond with a world-class spouse like Alipay+. The release of the Alipay+ provider in Hong Kong marks a vital step in our strategic plan and underscores our dedication to a key marketplace within the international economic system. This partnership now not best reaffirms Tinaba because the main Eu operator but in addition distinguishes us as the only real supplier in Italy of this complex era. Because of this collaboration, our Italian shoppers can now immediately get admission to the most important cellular cost ecosystem in Asia, immediately from our app,” states Matteo Arpe, Chairman of Tinaba, Italy.
“As we see Filipino vacationers to Hong Kong achieve pre-pandemic ranges, our enhanced partnership with Alipay+ couldn’t have come at a greater time. This makes GCash the easiest way to pay now not best within the Philippines but in addition in Hong Kong as we provide real-time foreign exchange charges, no provider charges, in addition to offers and reductions,” mentioned Paul Albano, Basic Supervisor of GCash Global, The Philippines.
Jae-Ho Choi, Head of Toss Pay Trade, South Korea, mentioned, “Toss Pay now supplies greater than 19 million per thirty days lively customers with a very easy and seamless offline cost provider in 49 nations and areas, together with Hong Kong. With a powerful partnership with Alipay+, Toss Pay will extend its industry within the international cost sector.”
“Because the outbound tourism at the Chinese language mainland is appearing sturdy enlargement momentum, in 2024, now we have collaborated with thousands and thousands of traders international to often release new campaigns and choices to counterpoint customers’ cost enjoy and assist service provider companions’ industry enlargement. From Would possibly 1, we can additionally get started permitting Alipay customers to acquire power on the in-app mini program Ant Wooded area once they take public delivery with their Alipay app in Hong Kong, at the backdrop of our persisted undertaking to permit sustainable travels amongst Chinese language vacationers when touring to in every single place the arena,” mentioned Huang Ya’nan, Head of Outbound Trip, Alipay.
Offered through Ant Global in 2020, Alipay+ now connects over 88 million traders in 57 nations and areas to at least one.5 billion client accounts throughout greater than 25 e-wallets and financial institution apps, permitting customers to commute and pay hassle-free globally, and traders to extend cross-border client engagement and virtual advertising.
The provider additionally builds on Alipay+’s intensive regional partnerships, together with collaborations with nationwide QR schemes together with Singapore’s SGQR, Malaysia’s PayNet, South Korea’s ZeroPay, Sri Lanka’s LankaPay and Cambodia’s KHQR.
From on-line to offline, virtual bills powered through Alipay+ are broadly accredited through key traders from Asian and Eu markets, spanning sectors corresponding to meals & beverage (F&B), tourism and hospitality, retail and transportation.
Along with Hong Kong, Alipay+ spouse wallets have already been accredited at more than a few primary international locations together with the Chinese language mainland and Macao SAR, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, The Philippines, South Korea, Japan, Europe and the Center East.
Ant Crew now gives 2 cellular cost possible choices for in a foreign country guests within the Chinese language mainland. A complete of eleven in a foreign country e-wallets and financial institution apps have already been enabled for cost at Alipay+’s intensive community of 80 million traders within the Chinese language mainland.
Vacationers might also make a selection to bind primary global credit cards, together with Visa, Mastercard, JCB, Uncover®, and Diners Membership Global, to an Alipay app to get admission to a wealthy array of native Alipay services and products from buying groceries, eating, ride-hailing to public transportation whilst within the Chinese language mainland, without having an area checking account or telephone quantity.
AlipayHK, the most well liked e-wallet in Hong Kong with about 4 million lively customers, is broadly accredited at greater than 90% of native offline shops for seamless bills.
