London attracts Chinese visitors with new Alipay partnership

Alipay launches mobile payment at Changi Airport to target Chinese travelers. [Photo/VCG]

Starting from 2016, China's online payment market has expanded their oversea presences, in a bid to meet the increasing demand for shopping from Chinese travelers, and to cooperate with more local enterprises.

Two dominant mobile payment platforms in China, Alipay and WeChat Pay, are supported by several hundred thousand foreign retailers. Those include restaurants, supermarkets, convenience stores, duty-free stores and theme parks.

Since January, WeChat Pay partnered up with Swiss firm Global Blue to offer an instant tax refund service for Chinese tourists leaving from Madrid airport, while Alipay rolled out a similar service for returning Chinese tourists at Singapore's Changi airport.

The mobile online payments have played an important role in helping Chinese travelers to simplify their tax reimbursements processes overseas. Chinese consumers can get their tax refunds immediately through the payment method, and they don't need to wait in long lines to get cash refunds.‍