Queensland’s inbound tourism industry has been boosted by a major partnership with the world’s largest online payment platform Alipay.
Earlier this month Alipay named Tourism and Events Queensland (TEQ) as its ‘Partner of the Year’ in the Australia-New Zealand region.
Deputy Premier Jackie Trad was in Shanghai for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Alipay and TEQ and said the partnership would help Queensland become the most payment friendly Australian State for Chinese visitors.
“This announcement is great recognition of the successful relationship we’ve established with Alipay, one of the world’s largest online payment platforms, as part of the Connecting with Asia Project 88 pilot program,” the Deputy Premier said.
“Over the past nine months the Queensland Government via Tourism and Events Queensland has rolled out the pilot Project 88 program with great success, working with Alipay to make Queensland a more payment friendly state for Chinese visitors.
“In that time, 436 Queensland businesses have become Chinese payment ready, meaning they’re better equipped to engage with Chinese travellers and grow expenditure from our biggest international market, with 489,000 Chinese travellers spending $1.6 billion in the year ending March 2019.”
Queensland businesses which are Alipay-ready include Cairns Aquarium, Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and iFly Gold Coast.
The relationship with Queensland has led Alipay to list TEQ as one of its top 20 global marketing partners in Australia and one of just 200 worldwide.
“We know from our research that Chinese visitors prefer to use mobile payment systems such as Alipay and our work in this space is making Queensland a more attractive destination for Chinese travellers,” Ms Trad said.
“As part of our continued work with Alipay, we’ll be targeting high-value and mobile-savvy Chinese travellers who want to explore the beauty and diversity of experiences available in Queensland.
“Alipay will be highlighting Queensland to users on their platforms, promoting the whole State during key Chinese holiday periods including the 2019 Chinese National Day Golden Week, Chinese student summer holiday period and the 2020 Chinese New Year Golden Week.”
Alipay’s Country Manager in Australia and New Zealand George Lawson said the partnership and success of the Project 88 pilot program will enhance Queensland’s retail and tourism offering to Chinese visitors.
“With its partners, Alipay has more than one billion users worldwide. Queensland is an appealing holiday destination and this program will enable more merchants and retailers to access Alipay’s marketing capabilities and provide Chinese visitors to Queensland an opportunity to use their payment method of choice,” Mr Lawson said.
Deputy Premier Jackie Trad is in China on a three-day trade mission.
