New Survey Finds Chinese Tourists Use Mobile Payments More Than Non-Chinese Tourists when Overseas

Nearly all Chinese travelers (91%) would be more willing to shop and spend at overseas merchants that accepted Chinese mobile payments, according to a new Nielsen report, jointly released by Nielsen and Alipay, which found that 93% of Chinese tourists would use mobile payment overseas if given the option.

The findings, revealed in a new Outbound Chinese Tourism and Consumption Trends: 2017 Survey, will be discussed by Souheil Badran, president of Alipay, Americas during the “Retail and Ecommerce Innovation in China: Spotlight on Alibaba” session at Shoptalk on March 20th at 9:45am. The survey is the first of its kind and examines the latest trends in Chinese tourists’ overseas travel and spending, and their use of mobile payment platforms when traveling.

Additional findings include:

• About 65% of Chinese tourists that participated in the survey have used mobile payment while traveling overseas, compared with only 11% of non-Chinese tourists.
• The majority (83%) of Chinese tourists would ask whether or not a local merchant supports mobile payments while abroad.
• Shopping was ranked the number one category for Chinese tourists spending overseas (25%) over accommodations (19%) and dining (16%). Non-Chinese respondents ranked shopping third (15%) in favor of spending on accommodations (29%) and dining (18%).

Statistics from the China National Tourism Administration show that Chinese tourists made 131 million trips overseas in 2017, an increase of 7% from 2016. The International Association of Tour Managers estimates that Chinese tourists spent $261.1 billion on overseas travel in 2016, up 4.5% from the prior year and ranking these tourists first worldwide in terms of spending on overseas travel. Alipay is China's leading online payment provider and the primary means of online and mobile payments for Chinese consumers.

“As Chinese tourism grows at a rapid pace, these travelers are bringing their cashless lifestyle with them when they visit other countries,” said Mr. Badran. “These results indicate that Chinese travelers are looking for merchants that accept familiar mobile payment methods and are ready to spend more shopping at those merchants that do. North American retailers and brands should consider the enormous sales opportunity available to them by offering Chinese-friendly mobile payments.”

Beyond an improved payment experience, Alipay offers a sophisticated marketing channel. Through Alipay, merchants are able to market to Chinese tourists before, during and after their visits, boosting exposure of their businesses among China’s rapidly expanding overseas visitors.

To read additional findings from the Outbound Chinese Tourism and Consumption Trends: 2017 Survey, please click here.

Survey Methodology

In December 2017, Nielsen conducted an extensive quantitative online survey with 2,009 residents from Chinese mainland and 613 non-Chinese residents as its research subjects, all of whom had travelled overseas in the past 12 months and plan to travel overseas in the next 12 months. In terms of the respondents from the Chinese mainland, to guarantee the representativeness of the samples, the survey took random samples from residents aged 20-50 (referred to as the “post-70s,” “post-80s” and “post-90s” generations) in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, second-tier cities such as Tianjin, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, and Qingdao, and third-tier cities such as Jilin, Zaozhuang, Taiyuan, Zhuhai, and Shaoxing. The non-Chinese respondents in the survey were tourists from representative developed countries or regions (excluding Chinese nationals who were residing in those countries or regions). The data of non-Chinese tourists in the report was the sum of the statistical data of tourists from the countries or regions after weighing, which showed related values revealing a significant difference compared with the data of Chinese tourists. Nielsen also invited 12 tourists who had returned to Shanghai or Chengdu from their travel overseas for face-to-face in-depth qualitative interviews where they were asked about their feelings and experiences before and after their travels.

About Alipay

Operated by Ant Financial Services Group, Alipay is the world’s leading mobile and online payment platform. Launched in 2004, Alipay currently has over 600 million active Chinese users and over 200 financial institution partners in China. Alipay has evolved from a digital wallet to a lifestyle enabler. Users can hail a taxi, book a hotel, buy movie tickets, pay utility bills, make appointments with doctors, or purchase wealth management products directly from within the app. In addition to online payments, Alipay is expanding to in-store offline payments both inside and outside of China. Over 40 million brick-and-mortar merchants now accept Alipay across China. Alipay’s in-store payment service covers 40 countries and regions across the world, and tax reimbursement via Alipay is supported in 24 countries and regions. Alipay works with over 250 overseas financial institutions and payment solution providers to enable cross-border payments for Chinese travelling overseas and overseas customers who purchase products from Chinese e-commerce sites. Alipay currently supports 27 currencies. Follow us on Twitter @antfinancial and @alipay.

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