Alipay and STB launch joint marketing efforts targeting Chinese tourists

Ant Financial’s Alipay and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) have launched a series of joint marketing efforts to raise destination awareness of Singapore among Chinese visitors. The move also serves to drive tourist spending among Chinese tourists.The marketing activities are geared at incentivising Alipay users through rewards and discounts to spend across different tourism-related businesses in Singapore such as retail and F&B. Both entities will also be creating tailored itineraries aligned with STB’s Passion Made Possible brand campaign. The itineraries also look to encourage Alipay users to pursue their passions by exploring and discovering new attractions, dining and shopping experiences, giving them more reasons to spend and visit Singapore.The partnership also serves to deepen STB’s understanding of Chinese visitors’ consumer behaviour and spending patterns to leverage Alipay’s insights. Jacqueline Ng, director, marketing partnerships and planning, STB, said in a statement that both parties are looking to explore more innovative marketing initiatives in the areas of content, digital and technology. This is to further enhance the Chinese visitor experience.“Singapore is a favorite destination for Chinese travellers. According to research released by Nielsen last year, it is one of Chinese tourists’ top ten preferred travel destinations in the world. Alipay is very pleased to be working together with the Singapore Tourism Board to ensure the consistent smart lifestyle for Chinese travellers in Singapore that they experience at home.“At the same time, we are excited to connect more merchants in Singapore with Chinese tourists and be discovered by them through the app,” Cherry Huang, general manager, cross-border Business for South and Southeast Asia, Alipay.The move follows a memorandum of understanding signed in September 2017, which has since seen Alipay experiencing a double-digit growth in user spending, the statement read. China has also come up top in terms of tourism revenue and arrivals in 2017, amounting to SG$4.2 billion in tourism receipts and 3.2 million visitor arrivals.The move aimed to increase exposure of Singapore’s offerings from a variety of tourism businesses and provide Chinese tourists better information access before and during their trips. It also saw STB and Alipay sharing data and analytics on trends in Chinese travel to Singapore with local tourism industry stakeholders, to help the industry better understand and target Chinese consumers with more relevant products and experiences.