Huangshan Tourism Group, which operates “the loveliest  mountain of China” Huangshan, announced its  partnership with Alipay, the leading digital payment  and lifestyle service platform, to launch the “International Visitor Friendly Scenic Spot” initiative.  The initiative aims to enhance the travel experience of  global visitors in China ahead of a major holiday in the  country, the May Day holiday.

The “International Visitor Friendly Scenic Spot”  initiative is the first of its kind in China. The initiative  helps global travelers visiting Huangshan enjoy  convenient payment options, including card, mobile  payment and cash, as well as claim tailored digital red  packet to enjoy shopping discounts and check travel  guide and tips in 16 languages.

Huangshan Tourism Group will also collaborate with  Alipay to launch local Hui culture experience tours and  activities for international tourists.

“The beautiful scenery of Mount Huangshan and  splendid Hui culture are must-have experiences when  traveling in Huangshan. We hope to enhance global  travelers’ experience through digital solutions on  Alipay platform,” said Jiajia Li, vice president of Alipay  business group at Ant Group.

An increasing number of overseas tourists are visiting  China given the expansion of the visa-free policy and  continued recovery of international flights. Official  data showed the number of foreign nationals visiting  China in the first quarter of 2024 increased more than  three times year-on-year.

Huangshan is the top tourist attraction for  international visitors to Anhui Province. After the  mutual visa-free policy between China and Singapore  went into effect in February, 2024, the first week of

visa-free travel between the two countries saw the  transaction volume via Alipay from Singaporeans  visiting Huangshan increase by over 400% year-on year.

China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China, has  been guiding banks and mobile payment companies to take measures to optimize payment experience for  international visitors.

Recent data from Alipay shows that in March 2024,  transaction volume by international tourists using  Alipay in the Chinese mainland increased by nearly 10  times compared to that of last year and the number of  transactions increased by 8 times year-on-year.

Alipay enables international visitors to pay at tens of  millions of merchants across China after downloading  the app and linking an international credit or debit  card from Visa, Mastercard, JCB, Discover^®, and Diners  Club International^®. Beyond providing a convenient  and secure mobile payment service, Alipay

collaborates with industry partners to offer global  tourists various travel services to enhance their travel  experience in China. These easy-to-access services  include online translation, car-hailing, public transport,  hotel booking, and train ticket booking, which are all  available on the homepage of Alipay.

In addition to using Alipay to pay like a local in China,  international tourists can also use their home e-wallet  while traveling around China. These home e-wallets  include AlipayHK (Hong Kong SAR, China), MPay  (Macao SAR, China), Touch ’n Go eWallet (Malaysia)  and Kakao Pay (South Korea), Hipay (Mongolia),  Changi Pay (Singapore), OCBC (Singapore), Naver Pay  (South Korea), Toss Pay (South Korea), TrueMoney  (Thailand), and NayaPay (Pakistan).