"Korea is emerging as a popular tourist destination drawing global attention. We will upgrade the Alipay+ service so that foreign tourists can easily make cashless payments everywhere."
Weixiao Jiang, head of North Asia and North America for Alipay+, held a media briefing on the 9th at KB Woojoon Tower on Teheran-ro in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, and said as much. Alipay+ is an integrated wallet gateway that provides cross-border payment and digitalization services at Ant International. It offers a service that allows various mobile payment methods in each country to be used at merchants in other countries through consolidation.
Alipay+ laid the groundwork to expand its business in Korea in Sept. 2023 through a partnership with Zero Pay, the simple payment system for small businesses promoted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. As of Nov. this year, Alipay+ users can easily pay at more than 2 million merchants nationwide, including duty-free shops and department stores, various beauty clinics (such as dermatology), and convenience stores, through 21 overseas digital wallets and bank apps.
Jiang said, "Among many countries around the world, Korea is the market where Alipay+ users are growing the fastest." This year in Korea, the number of QR payments and total payment amount via Alipay+ rose 18% and 16%, respectively, from a year earlier. The increase reflects the rise in tourists visiting Korea and the expanded scope of Alipay+ partnerships.
This year, 32% of all Alipay+ transactions in Korea were at convenience stores and 17% at duty-free shops. By transaction value, duty-free shops (39%) and beauty clinics (21%) accounted for high shares. The fastest-growing payment categories were transportation, beauty clinics, and dining (F&B). Public transit payments via Alipay+ jumped 120% from a year earlier, while total payment value rose 23%. Beauty clinic transactions increased 90% year over year, with total payment value up 123%. Dining (F&B) expenditure grew 47%, and total payment value increased 54%, respectively, from a year earlier.
Alipay+ has also partnered with transportation services in Korea, including buses and taxis, enabling partner wallet and app users to pay fares digitally. Tourists can use Alipay+ partner wallets to ride about 70,000 taxis in Seoul and roughly 100 airport limousines departing from Incheon International Airport. In Jeju Island, payments via Alipay+ are available on more than 1,200 buses, and in Daegu, on more than 15,000 eZL taxis.
In addition, Chinese tourists whose arrivals are rising under the recent visa-free policy can use Alipay, an Alipay+ partner wallet, to buy train tickets such as KTX at KORAIL. A dedicated K-beauty mini program also supports reservations at more than 1,500 beauty clinics, including PPEUM, Toxnfill, and GU.
Alipay+ is also entering strategic partnerships across various sectors, including retail, tourism, transportation, and mobility. Recently, Baemin adopted Alipay+ payments, lowering payment barriers for tourists visiting Korea.
Alipay+ is a service that Korean tourists can also use abroad. It currently has partnerships with Kakao Pay, Naver Pay, and Toss Pay. In particular, Kakao Pay users can make simple payments at about 150 million Mastercard merchants worldwide through Alipay+'s NFC payment solution.
Alipay+ plans to expand small-business merchants next year as well to improve payment accessibility for travelers to Korea. Jiang said, "We plan to increase merchants and actively roll out service promotions by expanding joint promotions with major commercial districts and local governments."