Mobile payment, new pass to Hangzhou scenic spots

The signing ceremony between Hangzhou Administration Commission of West Lake Scenic Area, Alibaba Group and Ant Financial is held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, Aug 10. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, is joining forces with China's e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and its affiliated Ant Financial to make mobile payment available in West Lake Scenic Area.

By 2022, tourists visiting the area will be able to access all scenic spots just by making a QR code-scanning payment via Alipay, the payment system of China's e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba, at the entrance, according to an agreement reached Aug 10.

Until now, e-payment services have been applied in 19 cash-only scenic spots in the West Lake area, saving tourists the trouble of waiting in long queues. "It is quite convenient," said a tourist who spent less than three minutes gaining access to the scenic spot.

"Our goal is clear, which is to build an intelligent scenic spot in Hangzhou, the hometown of Alibaba, by leveraging our capacities in cloud computing, big data and the internet of things to better serve foreign tourists," said an official from Alibaba Group.

In addition, the two sides will also step up efforts to develop a unified payment platform to analyze traffic flows and the revenue of the area, according to Zou Liang, vice-president of Ant Financial.

In 2017, Hangzhou welcomed more than 160 million tourists from home and abroad.

A tourist makes a mobile payment in Yue Fei Temple, Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]