Tourists from Four Asian Countries and Regions Can Now Pay in Thailand with Mobile Wallets
May 29 2023 - 9:21PM
Business Wire
- Enabled through Alipay+, the respective mobile wallets accepted
in Thailand include AlipayHK, Kakao Pay, Touch ‘n Go eWallet and
Alipay.
- Thailand’s flag carrier Thai Airways is one of the first
airlines to integrate Alipay+ as a payment method.
Ant Group, the operator of Alipay+, the global cross-border
digital payments and marketing solution today announced that a
total of four mobile wallets are now accepted in Thailand. These
include AlipayHK (Hong Kong SAR), Kakao Pay (South Korea), Touch ‘n
Go eWallet (Malaysia) and Alipay (Chinese mainland), which has been
accepted by Thai merchants since 2015.
Enabled through Alipay+, the latest development and the addition
of three more mobile wallets will expand the seamless digital
travel experience for more Asian tourists visiting Thailand, in the
midst of a rapid rebound in the local tourism industry.
Ant Group also unveiled new collaborations with the Tourism
Authority of Thailand (“TAT”), to promote the Amazing Thailand
campaign and to stimulate travel in Thailand. In addition to
facilitating purchases and transactions made by mobile wallets
familiar to tourists, Ant Group will also provide digital solutions
to local businesses in areas such as digitalisation of service
operations, digital marketing efficiency and customer experience
enhancement. This is targeted at helping local merchants to engage
tourists more effectively throughout their journey from pre-trip to
post-trip. Local businesses can leverage solutions including the
Alipay+ D-store™ to build digital stores in the form of mini
programmes, leveraging digital platform to reach and engage
tourists.
Speaking of the partnership, Mr Yuthasak Supasorn, Governor of
TAT said: “Building on the trust and collaboration we have had with
Alipay for many years to engage tourists from the Chinese mainland,
we are excited to further expand the reach through Alipay+ to
tourists in three more Asian countries and regions, which are
important source locations for Thailand.”
“We also welcome Ant Group’s efforts to contribute to the
digitalisation of the tourism industry by providing innovative
digital solutions and close collaborations with local merchants. We
are confident that this will lead to a revenue boost and growth
opportunities for local businesses.”
Thailand's flag carrier Thai Airways is one of the first
airlines to integrate Alipay+ as a payment method. Users of all
four mobile wallets can now seamlessly pay for purchases of flight
tickets using their wallets, and enjoy competitive foreign exchange
rates.
Commenting on the latest expansion of Alipay+ in Thailand, Dr.
Cherry Huang, General Manager of Alipay+ Offline Merchant Services
at Ant Group, said: “We strongly believe that the acceptance of
more Asian mobile wallets in Thailand will enhance the travel
experience and further promote Thailand as an attractive and
sustainable destination for travellers. Our focus now is to onboard
more local merchants in sectors including travel, retail,
hospitality, F&B to integrate the Alipay+ solution.”
“We look forward to working with local merchants, not only in
the popular locations but also those in the lesser known areas, to
help them grow and thrive with added digital solutions and
capabilities,” she added.
The Ministry of Commerce1 recently announced a significant surge
in new registrations of tourism-related businesses, where the
number of new registrations doubled year-on-year during the first
four months of 2023.
Introduced by Ant Group in 2020, Alipay+ aims to enable local
businesses, especially small and medium-sized businesses, to
process a wide range of mobile payment methods and reach 1 billion
regional and global consumers, through one-time integration and
simple technical adaption. In addition to Thailand, Alipay+ is also
widely accepted in destinations including the Chinese mainland,
Macao SAR, Singapore, Japan, South Korea among others.
+++
About Alipay+
Alipay+ offers unified global mobile payment and marketing
solutions that connect merchants with multiple e-wallets and
payment methods from different countries and regions by
collaborating with global partners. Consumers can conveniently use
their preferred local payment methods while transacting seamlessly
in a different market and be able to enjoy marketing offers by the
merchants through Alipay+. Alipay+ is developed by Ant Group, the
owner and operator of Alipay, one of the world’s leading digital
open platforms.
About Ant Group
Ant Group aims to create the infrastructure and platform to
support the digital transformation of the service industry. It
strives to enable all consumers and small and micro businesses to
have equal access to financial and other services that are
inclusive, green and sustainable.
Ant Group is the owner and operator of Alipay, the leading
digital payment platform in China serving hundreds of millions of
users, and connecting them with merchants and partner financial
institutions that offer inclusive financial services and digital
daily life services such as food delivery, transport,
entertainment, and healthcare.
Ant Group has further introduced Alipay+, which provides global
cross-border mobile payments and marketing solutions that connect
merchant partners, especially small and medium-sized businesses,
with mobile payments and other payment methods, for them to better
serve their users and customers from all over the world.
____________________ 1 Source:
https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/tourism/tourism-sector-recovery-evident-in-increased-new-business-registrations
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230529005178/en/
Betty Bai guzhuang.bb@antgroup.com