Leading mobile payment providers across Asia announced an integration of Alipay+ cross-border digital payment solutions in South Korea in an effort to jointly promote cashless travel in the country.
Users of e-wallets including AlipayHK, GCash (the Philippines), Touch ‘n Go eWallet (Malaysia), and TrueMoney (Thailand) are able to pay at over 120,000 merchants using their local mobile payment apps when travelling in South Korea.
The collaboration marks the first time for leading mobile payment providers from Southeast Asia and Hong Kong to extend the availability of their services in South Korea through Alipay+. The initial phase of the merchant roll-out covers major tourist activities including payments for taxis, duty-free shops, convenience stores, and food and beverage chains.
The main tourist attraction in South Korea is Jeju Island, one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature, and the interest of these international brands in the country contributes greatly to tourism promotion in the region. It also goes hand in hand with this year’s World Tourism Day theme of Rethinking Tourism, Alipay+ has been striving to achieve the same goal by supporting a cashless and smart travel experience. Through innovation and digitalization, Alipay+ will hopefully play its role in the transformation of tourism into a crucial pillar of development.
Introduced by Ant Group, Alipay+ is a suite of global cross-border digital payments and marketing solutions designed to enable businesses to process a wide range of mobile payment methods and better serve regional and global consumers through simple technical adaption.
Commenting on the collaboration, Danny Chung, General Manager of Ant Group Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, said: “It is our pleasure to connect merchants in Korea with a variety of mobile payment methods, enabling Asian tourists to pay with convenience and simplicity in Korea using their preferred home e-wallets.”