Tourism Richmond Announces Partnership With Alipay

Monday, September 24, 2018

Tourism Richmond has signed an agreement with Richmond stakeholders through Alipay’s digital mobile payment and marketing platform.

More than just an online payment solution, merchants can showcase their business on Alipay’s geolocated-based “Discover” function and push notifications within the app. Merchants can market to Chinese consumers before, during and after their visits to Canada, boosting their brand among the rapidly expanding group of Chinese overseas visitors. This service also allows consumers to locate nearby stores, receive promotional information and make informed purchasing decisions. A “lifestyle super app,” Alipay currently boasts over 700 million active users in China, with over 70 percent of users paying for goods and services through the app.

“We see this partnership as an opportunity to help our stakeholders and merchants to become China-ready,” commented Nancy Small, chief executive officer of Tourism Richmond. “We’re seeing visitation from China grow year over year. Offering this payment option is a first step to welcoming Chinese customers, whether they’re here as a tourist visiting Metro Vancouver, international student or new immigrant.”

The data is there: in 2017 alone, an estimated 1 million Chinese visitors spent time in Richmond for either a day trip, or an overnight trip and their top spending categories included shopping and restaurants. The first week of October, also known as Golden Week, will see approximately 300,000 Chinese tourists visiting metro Vancouver for a holiday.

“Metro Vancouver is a key destination during Golden Week for Chinese consumers who seek out authentic and local experiences,” said Rita Liu, head of Canada at Alipay. “Alipay gives travellers peace of mind while they are abroad with a secure and convenient payment option they are already accustomed to at home. We partnered with Tourism Richmond for the greatest reach to retail partners in the Metro Vancouver area, and we are pleased to continue to offer travellers a seamless shopping and payment experience.”

According to research conducted by China Travel Outbound, 90 per cent of Chinese visitors use mobile payment systems such as Alipay when travelling overseas and 91 per cent of Chinese tourists indicated that the widespread availability of mobile payments abroad would encourage them to spend more.

2018 is also the Canada-China Year of Tourism, and there has been a surging interest among Chinese tourists to visit Canada. According to Destination Canada, this year, for the first time ever, China has emerged as Canada’s largest source of long-haul travelers with over 131,000 between January to March, up 25 per cent over the same period last year.

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