Ant Group Brings Alipay+ to the Philippines with Three New Mobile Wallets, AlipayHK, Kakao Pay and Touch ‘n Go eWallet

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 the Philippines. These include AlipayHK (Hong Kong SAR), Kakao Pay (South Korea), Touch ‘n Go eWallet (Malaysia) and Alipay (Chinese mainland), which has been accepted by Filipino merchants since 2017. This enables travellers from these regions to enjoy a cashless experience, using just their home mobile wallets to make payment, improving the travel experience as digital payment options like mobile wallets become the norm for day-to-day transactions.

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The acceptance of three new mobile wallets, via Alipay+, comes as travellers return to the Philippines. According to the Department of Tourism (DOT), more than 3 million tourists have visited the Philippines from January 1 to July 19, 2023, reflecting continued robust recovery. The DOT also shared that inbound tourism receipts from January 1 to June 30, 2023, are more than 500% higher than the same period last year¹. South Koreans top the list of international visitors to the Philippines, while Malaysia ranks in the top 10².

Alipay+ is currently accepted by merchants in Manila and Cebu, the top two most visited cities in the Philippines pre-pandemic in 2019³. In the first half of 2023, Mactan-Cebu International Airport saw a 219% increase in passengers compared to the same period last year. In order to cater to the new expectations of digital-first travellers, the airport has integrated Alipay+ across 90% of its merchants, ensuring that tourists can enjoy a digitally-enhanced cashless experience from the moment they arrive in Cebu.

Athanasios Titonis, Aboitiz InfraCapital Chief Executive Officer assigned to MCIA, said: “At MCIA, we have always placed utmost importance on providing convenience and ease of travel through seamless processes and world-class services and amenities. The integration of Alipay+ gives our passengers that exceptional convenience and more payment options when they travel through MCIA.”

Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) is the second largest airport in the Philippines with over 11 million passengers annually, making it the second busiest airport in the country. With its strategic location and world-class facilities, MCIA aims to establish itself as the main tourism gateway of the country with exceptional travel experience, connecting the world to the Philippines. To date, MCIA is the first and only airport in the Philippines to receive the Airport Customer Experience (ACX) accreditation from the Airports Council International.

Commenting on this new development, Dr. Cherry Huang, General Manager of Alipay+ Offline Merchant Services at Ant Group, said: “Philippines and its many islands, such as Cebu, have long been a favourite destination for Asian travellers and we look forward to working with our local partners to enhance their travel experience. We believe that digital adoption and solutions will shape travellers’ expectations, particularly in the way the engage travel-related businesses, from airports and hospitality to F&B and retail stores. Our focus now is to work with more partners to onboard more merchants with Alipay+ across the Philippines, particularly local small businesses, and promote digital travel and travel recovery.”

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 more than 1.4 billion regional and global consumers, through one-time integration and simple technical adaption. In addition to the Philippines, Alipay+ is also widely accepted in destinations including the Chinese mainland, Macao SAR, Singapore, Thailand, Japan and South Korea among others.

About Mactan-Cebu International Airport

Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) is the second largest airport in the Philippines. It serves over 11 million passengers annually, making it the second busiest airline hub in the country. MCIA is operated by a Filipino-led private consortium between Aboitiz InfraCapital (AIC), GMR Group of India, and Megawide Construction Corporation (MCC), under a concession agreement with the Philippine Government. With its strategic location and world-class facilities, MCIA aims to establish itself as the main tourism gateway of the country with exceptional travel experience, connecting the world to the Philippines. MCIA is accredited for the Airport Customer Experience (ACX) and the Airport Health Accreditation (AHA) by the Airports Council International.

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.

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.

¹ Manila Bulletin (19 July 2023): PH int’l tourists breach 3M mark, revenues hit P212B

² Department of Tourism: Tourism demand statistics 2023

³ Department of Tourism: Visitor arrivals: January – December 2019

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Contact information

Scott Lai
scott.lai@antgroup.com