Leading Chinese online payment platform Alipay has extended its services to 40 overseas tourist destinations amid a surge in outbound trips during the ongoing National Day holiday.
Alipay's 40 new partners, mostly in Asia and Europe, include 10 airports, business districts, Chinatowns and outlet shopping malls.
The mobile payment services are now available in over 90 percent of the shops at affiliated tourist destinations, and some businesses will offer Chinese tourists with special Alipay discounts and Mandarin-speaking customer service during the holiday.
During the ongoing National Day holiday, which runs from Oct. 1 to 7, Japan, Thailand and the Republic of Korea (ROK) are expected to be the top destinations for Chinese tourists, according to a report by Ctrip, China's leading online provider of travel services.
Chinese tourists are predicted to make 7 million outbound trips during the holiday, or 5 percent of the year's total, with each spending 7,300 yuan (about 1,000 U.S. dollars) on average, the report said.
China has been the country with most outbound tourists in annual terms since 2013. Its outbound tourism market is estimated to increase by 5 percent annually on average in the coming years, bringing the number of outbound tourists to 157 million in 2020, according to the China Tourism Academy, a think tank under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
