Alipay shared a study on the spending habits of Chinese visitors on the payment app over the Labour Day holiday (1–3 May) this year. The number of Chinese visitors in Singapore over the Labour Day holiday period almost doubled from last year.

In addition, the average Chinese traveler spent SGD 325 (RMB 1,611) in Singapore during the Labour Day holiday – higher than in any of the other SEA countries, and a 13% increase from the same period last year according to Alipay.

Key Singapore-specific findings reveal:

• Grocery and fresh food supermarkets, followed by department stores and fashion brands saw the highest growth among Chinese visitors during this period
• The most popular merchants in Singapore were taxis (in-street and via taxi-hailing apps), airport merchants and resort merchants

General findings from the study reveal:

• Average overseas spending per user on Alipay increased by nearly 11% to RMB 1,790 (SGD 361)
• Spending was highest in Europe, the Middle East and North Asia
• In terms of the number of transactions, Thailand was the second-most popular destination for Chinese tourists
• Malaysia and Singapore ranked seventh and ninth in terms of the number of transactions

Demographic findings

Chinese seniors are an up-and-coming tourism trend – transactions made by those born in the 1940s and 50s more than doubled, with average spending per user in this age group jumping to RMB 1,622 (SGD 327).

About 65% who used Alipay overseas during the Labour Day holiday were female. Transactions made by those born in the 2000s increased eight-fold, on average to RMB 506 (SGD 102) during the same period.

In Southeast Asia, tens of thousands of merchants already accept Alipay as a payment platform for Chinese tourists. An earlier joint study from research firm, Nielsen and Alipay found that more than 90% of Chinese tourists would use mobile payment to pay overseas if given the opportunity.

Alipay has been working with various government bodies, financial institutions and businesses in Southeast Asian countries to further enhance guest experiences and enable seamless access to tourism attractions for Chinese visitors.

Singapore emerged the 3rd largest market in Southeast Asia for Chinese tourists spending over Chinese New Year, with an increase of 34% in average spending per Chinese tourist, according to findings from Alipay on overseas spending and mobile payment behavior of Chinese consumers across the 54 markets where Alipay is accepted during the 2019 Lunar New Year period (4-10 February).

60% of merchants that had adopted Alipay reported growth in revenue and foot traffic. It also highlights how the use of Alipay has become mainstream, as the older generations catch up with their younger peers in embracing digital payment.

The key findings reveal:

• Both transaction values and volumes experienced robust growth.
• Offline in-store transaction value surged 2.2 times year-on-year.
• Asian countries still dominate the top in terms of transaction volume with the exception of Canada, which climbed to the tenth spot due to increased adoption by local merchants and large retailers.
• Singapore remains in third place in Southeast Asia terms of transaction volume after Thailand and Malaysia and ranks in eighth place globally.
  • Transaction volume in Singapore doubled, and the average spending per Chinese tourist in Singapore increased by 34 percent
  • The highest number of transactions in Singapore occurred at airport terminals and in taxis.
  • Taxi transaction volume in Singapore this year was 1.92 times more than last year, and there was an increase of 5% in spending.
  • Transaction volume on Sentosa tripled, with over 70% acceptance rate on the island.

Alipay and Singapore’s Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) have deepened their strategic partnership to enhance the travel experience of Chinese visitors

In terms of product and outlet categories, Chinese tourists shopped more frequently in department stores and luxury shops in Europe, while those who traveled to Asian countries favored pharmaceutical and cosmetics shops and convenience stores.

In addition, preliminary findings released last week show:

Average consumption growth through Alipay by travelers from third-and-fourth-tier cities in China outpaced those travelers from the top-tier cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Middle-aged travelers, which are categorized into two groups – post-60s (those who were born between 1960 – 1969) and post-70s, were the main driving force in outbound tourism and overseas consumption.

China saw 150 million outbound person-trips in 2018, up 14.7%

Alipay and Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) have deepened their strategic partnership to enhance the travel experience of Chinese visitors with the launch of a new RWS mini-programme available on the Alipay mobile application platform – the first of its kind in Singapore. RWS is also the first integrated resort outside of China to offer a mini-programme through Alipay.

A new technology trend and marketing model originating from China, the newly introduced RWS mini programme in partnership with Alipay allows Alipay users to make dining reservations, enjoy dining discounts and directly purchase discounted tickets to attractions such as Universal Studios Singapore, S.E.A. Aquarium, The Maritime Experiential Museum, and Adventure Cove Waterpark, all located at the lifestyle destination resort.

It enables RWS to reach out and market to users currently on the Alipay mobile app platform. As of the end of 2018, Alipay, together with its global e-wallet partners has served over 1 billion users worldwide.

The RWS mini-programme is developed with the aim of elevating the in-destination user experience for Chinese tourists visiting RWS. Through the mini-programme, visitors can now directly book discounted tickets to the many attractions at RWS with the convenience of a single app platform.

Besides seasonal promotions, discounts and prizes up for grabs, visitors can also easily make online dining reservations and enjoy special discounts across the many celebrity chef restaurants at RWS via the app, a feature not easily accessible to users in China.

The in-app map also provides a quick overview to help visitors explore the integrated resort. Regular updates about exclusive RWS and Alipay campaigns are also provided with seasonal promotions rolled out to ensure visitors get the most value out of their visit.

Its Chinese New Year campaign launched on 25 January 2019, giving users up to RMB 720 worth of red packets and RWS coupons. Reservations at the newly opened contemporary European restaurant – table65 – at RWS can also be conveniently made on the mini-programme.

RWS is currently offering users an exclusive dining promotion that offers discount vouchers of SGD 25 when they make an online reservation at three exciting celebrity chef restaurants – Curate, Teppan, and Tangerine – with a minimum spend of SGD 100.

New features will be gradually added to improve the visitor experience at RWS. All offers and features will be exclusive to the RWS mini-programme only and not accessible through Alipay’s platform or RWS website.

Users can access the mini-programme by either scanning the Alipay mini-programme QR code displayed at strategic locations across RWS, or do a keyword search for “rwsentosa”, or the corresponding Chinese terms “圣淘沙名胜世界”, “名胜世界” on the Alipay app.

Cherry Huang, General Manager, Cross-border Business for South and Southeast Asia, Alipay said, “

We are very pleased to partner with Resorts World Sentosa to further enhance the shopping, dining and entertainment experience for Chinese tourists at RWS. Many Chinese are already using Alipay to make payments at RWS but the mini-programme will take it one step further to help them make the most out of every visit, with discounts, offers, free reservations and seasonal campaigns.

Particularly at a time when the Chinese are traveling more, and willing to spend more during their vacations abroad, it is crucial that businesses in this region are accommodating their unique spending behaviours. According to the latest Nielsen report on outbound Chinese tourism and consumption trends, merchants in Southeast Asia, including Singapore, are benefiting the most from adoption of Alipay as a payment method. In fact, 60% of merchants here report increased foot traffic and increased revenue since making Alipay available.

Mr Chow Keng Hai, Senior Vice President for Resort Operations, Resorts World Sentosa said,

Chinese visitors form a very important source market for RWS where our highly popular attractions such as Universal Studios Singapore and S.E.A. Aquarium count among the top must-visit places on their travel itineraries, along with our many exciting restaurants helmed by renowned celebrity chefs.

With Alipay already widely accepted as a fast and convenient payment mode across RWS, this new partnership with Alipay takes us a step ahead to enhance the post-arrival experience for Chinese visitors at RWS.

We are confident that the mini-programme will greatly increase the appeal of RWS, offering our Chinese guests an all-in-one app to access the many attractive discounts and making it a breeze for them to book tickets and make dining reservations at the click of a button.”

Alipay started testing its own mini-program platform since January 2017. Read more on its benefits for retailers here.

In addition to online payments, Alipay is expanding to in-store offline payments both inside and outside of China. Alipay’s in-store payment service covers more than 40 countries and regions across the world, and tax reimbursement via Alipay is supported in 29 countries and regions.

Alipay works with over 250 overseas financial institutions and payment solution providers to enable cross-border payments for Chinese traveling overseas and overseas customers who purchase products from Chinese e-commerce sites. Alipay currently supports 27 currencies.

Related: WeChat Mini-Programs

In the first half of 2017, the number of Chinese who went to Japan exceeded 3.282 million, showing an increase of 6.67%. Compared to the growth rate of more than 20% in the past two years, growth significantly slowed down.

In the first half of 2017, Chinese travellers in Korea dropped by 40.97% to 2.253 million. However, the total number of Chinese passengers to Southeast Asia (SEA) soared, exceeding 10 million people in half a year. Therefore, it can be assumed that there is a shift in the travel demand from Japan and South Korea to countries in SEA.

Chinese Tourism to Thailand 

In September 2016, since Thailand rectified its “zero tour fees” policy, with the addition of the king’s passing, China’s tourism market to Thailand was impacted. In the first half of 2017, recovery is seen for China’s tourism market in Thailand, hitting about 4.712 million people, only down slightly by 3.8%.

From the Sino-Thai aviation market’s observation, regardless of the impact of the Spring Festival factors, the capacity from January-July 2017 has already exceeded the same period in 2016. Looking to the second half of 2017, despite the late Thailand king’s funeral in October 2017 which is likely to impact the industry, the number of Chinese tourists in Thailand is still likely to exceed last year, having a breakthrough of 9 million people.

Chinese Tourists to Cambodia 

In recent years, the number of Chinese travellers to Cambodia has grown steadily. In 2016, 830,000 Chinese travellers visited Cambodia, an increase of 19.47%. In the first half of 2017, Cambodia received 2.66 million international tourists, an increase of 12.8%, of which Chinese tourists accounted for 530,000 tourists, an increase of 39.9%.

From the current trend, the number of Chinese tourists to Cambodia is expected to exceed 1 million people in 2017. It is also worth mentioning that, with the continued warming of Sino-Cambodian relations, the number of business travellers to Cambodia has increased rapidly.

Chinese Tourists to Vietnam

From January-July 2017, the number of Chinese travellers in Vietnam is 2.217 million people, a substantial increase of 51%, with Vietnam becoming the most travelled to the destination in SEA for Chinese tourists. In the second half of 2017, if Sino-Vietnamese relations are stable, the total number of Chinese travellers in Vietnam in the entire year is expected to have a breakthrough of 4 million people.

Chinese Tourists to Singapore

Currently, Singapore only has the numbers from January-May 2017, whereby the number of Chinese tourists in Singapore reached 1.335 million, an increase of 6.67%. Following Singapore Airlines Air Navigation and Tiger Airways’ complete integration, there are plans to continue to expand China Airlines’ routes. From the observation of current trends, the number of Chinese travellers in Singapore in 2017 is expected to exceed 3 million people.

Chinese Tourists to Malaysia 

Currently, Malaysia has also only released numbers from January-May 2017, and the number of Chinese tourists in Malaysia reached 905,300, an increase of 7.79%. From the current market situation, the number of Chinese passengers travelling to Malaysia has been restored to the number pre-“Malaysia Airlines” incident.

Benefitting from China and ASEAN’s open sky policy and low-cost aviation development, the aviation market between China and ASEAN countries continue to grow. There is also a trend of development towards small countries (eg. Brunei) and small cities (eg. Hat Yai, Cambodia).

Since the market size is expanded, competition is heightened, and even small charter companies tried to adopt the China aviation route. In the open market system, however, continued efforts are still required to promote the healthy development of the aviation market and to have orderly competition.

Shanghai is the most popular city among Chinese, followed by New York, according to an Ipsos survey. Check out the top 10.

Chinese favor Asian cities or cities with more Chinese such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and etc. Only Paris and Zurich from Europe made it to the top 10.

Singapore is the top choice of living among Chinese, followed by Vancouver.

Mobile social content sharing insights in China 2017

The number of Chinese tourists traveling abroad increased 19.5% YoY to 120 million in 2015 and the number was 13 times higher than that of 1998 according to China National Tourism Administration. Data of Feng Li & Fung Group Research Center showed that consumption of Chinese tourists totaled US$229 billion in 2015.

The number of Chinese visitors to Singapore increased by 20% to 2.07 million person-trips in 2015 and the number is expected to increase to 2.35 million this year. The growth rate will slow down according to HSBC.

In contrast, Chinese tourists visiting Japan and Thailand are expected to increase by 46.2% and 41.7% respectively in 2016 which will maintain a strong growth rate in visitor arrivals.

Singapore was not a good desirable place for Chinese tourist doing shopping compared with Japan and Korea. According to a research covering 300,000 Chinese social media users by HSBC, the United States (46%) was the most desirable tourism locations for Chinese people, followed by Japan (26%) and Hong Kong (21%). Only 5% of respondents chose Singapore.

Chinese tourists were more likely to buy luxury products, cosmetics, clothing and watches in those countries according to 6Estates. And they preferred to buy local brands, such as Charles & Keith in Singapore, Uniqlo in Japan, Sasa in Hong Kong, and Coach in the US.

Also read: China Outbound Travelers Shopping Overview 2015

As of 31 December 2015, the number of travel agencies in China reached 27,621 according to China National Tourism Administration.

The top ten inbound traveler regions by the total number of person trips are Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Macau, the U.S., Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Thailand and Russia.

China travel agencies organized a total number of 42.18 million person trips and received 45.29 million person trips in Q4 2015, an increase of 14.68% and 14.59% YoY.

Jiangsu (17%), Shanghai (9%), and Zhejiang (9%) are the top 3 travel destinations in China in Q4 2015.

Southeast Asia countries are among China’s most popular outbound tourism destinations, accounting for 27% of total person-trips in Q4 2015.

Also read: China Travel Insights for Chinese New Year 2016

According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, the number of global tourists grows 4% in the first 8 months of 2015. International tourists arrivals in Indonesia increased by 2.87%, and Chinese tourists to Indonesia grew by 20.74%.

According to the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism Policy Development and Research Institution, mainland Chinese travelers to Indonesia grew by 24.97% in August 2015, Egypt 25.51%, Singapore 23.28%, Taiwan  11.50% and the United Kingdom 16.68%.

In the first eight months in 2015, international tourists to Indonesia reached approximately 850,542 people, and the number of Chinese tourists visiting Indonesia reached 779,348, an increase of 20.74%. They entered Indonesia mainly via Bali International Airport, Soviet Union in Jakarta Gano – Hatta International Airport and Sumatra, Riau Batam international Airport.

Since 2012, China had been the largest outbound tourism market in the world for 3 consecutive years, and China will invest more in the tourism industry.

Also read: China Hotel Search Behavior Overview 2015

China is the world’s largest outbound tourism market and consumption market. Basing on the report initiated by China and surveyed by the World Urban Tourism Federation (WTCF), a total of 109 million Chinese person-trips visited foreign countries in 2014, among which the ratio of women was higher than men by 17 percentage points. The post-80s favored overseas tourism most, accounting for nearly 45%.

China is the world’s largest outbound tourism market and consumption market. In 2014, the number of Chinese outbound tourists reached 109 million person-trips, a YoY increase of 11% accounting for 9.58% of the total international tourists. Total Chinese outbound tourism consumption reached US$165 billion, an increase of 28% accounting for 11% of the total international tourism revenues.

Women tourists accounted for 58.5% of all Chinese outbound tourists, higher than men. The largest age group was the post-80s whose ratio was as high as 44.89%; the post-70s ranked second, accounting for 25.72%; and followed by the post-90s (11.39%), post-60s (9.97%) and post-50s (8.04%).

The post-80s and post-70s became the main groups of Chinese outbound tourists, accounting for more than 70%, which is mainly due to their higher education background and the majority got married traveling with minor children and elder parents.

Over the past year, Chinese short-distance tourists were mainly the post-80s and post-90s, accounting for more than 60% of the total; most of them were single or married with no children or children under the age of 10; their average household monthly income was 18,233 yuan (US$2,858.82) and the individual average income is 9,531 yuan (US$1,495.22), lower than the overall level.

Their favorite short-distance tour destinations are all located in East Asia and Southeast Asia, including five cities in Japan, Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Kobe, and Nara; three cities in South Korea, Seoul, Jeju, Inchon; and followed by Bangkok and Singapore.

Improving visa policies, including lowering the threshold, simplifying procedures and shortening the processing time, are expected by most Chinese outbound tourists. And, shopping has beocme a routine for overseas tourists.

Also read: Tmall Will Launch the Global Duty-free Shop Project in China

According to data from China Tourism Academy, total revenue generated from China inbound tourism market reached $51.646 billion with an increase of 3.27% year on year, ranking 4th in the world, following America, France and Spain in 2013.

In 2013, top 10 countries by foreign travelers were South Korea, Japan, Russia, America, Vietnam, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Singapore and Australia.

Also read: Chinese New Year Traveler Insights 2015

Private-label share is 5% or less in markets such as China, India and Brazil according to a Nielsen survey and there does appear to be a ceiling for growth while in the most developed European store-brand markets, private-label share has remained around 45% for the past 10 years.

The Nielsen Global Survey of Private Label polled more than 30,000 Internet respondents in 60 countries to understand how consumer perceptions about private label quality, value, assortment and packaging translate into sales around the world.

Private label growth has been slow. Value share is highest in Singapore (8.1%), Hong Kong (5.1%), India (4.5%) and Taiwan (3.1%) and lowest in China (1.3%), Thailand (0.8%) and Indonesia (0.6%).

Also read: China Online Retail Market Grows 3 Times Faster Than Retail Market

Chinese citizens’ Tourists Satisfaction Index was 76.98 in Q3 according to China Tourism Academy , which was in a basic satisfaction level (relatively low). The top 3 countries among 24 sample countries with the highest satisfaction were Italy, Singapore and the U.S..

China is now the second most popular source country for visitors to Australia, following New Zealand with 1.2 million trips from across the Tasman in the last financial year.

In Q3 2014, the gap between Chinese satisfaction of outbound tourism and expectation was narrowed. While ratio of complaint was rising, Chinese travelers who complain and reported complaint accounted for 12.98% and 1.68% respectively. The main issues were travel products & service quality, public service including Chinese language support, and sense of security.

Italy, among all sample countries surveyed, ranked the highest according to the Tourists Satisfaction Index:

1. Italy 79.95
2. Singapore 79.82
3. The U.S. 79.79
4. Japan 79.48
5. New Zealand 79.36
6. Canada 79.02
7. U.K. 78.85
8. Australia 78.66
9. Thailand 78.49
10. France 78.23
11. South Korea 77.55
12. Spain 77.31
13. Germany 77.13
14. Malaysia 76.84
15. Indonesia 75.86
16. Cambodia 74.13
17. Argentina 74.08
18. South Africa 73.98
19. Vietnam 73.84
20. Russia 73.79
21. Philippines 73.39
22. India 73.38
23. Brazil 73.05
24. Mongolia 72.61

Also read: Rise of the China Outbound Tourism

In August 2013, China outbound travelers kept growing, Asia was the main destination for Chinese tourists.

Data showed that Hong Kong, Macao, Thailand and Singapore were the top choices of Chinese outbound travelers. And the number of travelers to Australia surged 40% compared to last month. 

Reasons for the fast increase were: first, Summer vacation was a major tourist season; second, New Zealand lower the requirements for visa to Chinese tourists; third, Australia launched China 2020 strategic plan.

Recently, more and more Chinese choose New Zealand for visiting. According to estimation of New Zealand, during the five years from 2013 to 2018, Chinese’s consumption in New Zealand would go up 13%, equal the consumption of Australian tourists.

Taobao has launched package forwarding service for Singapore and Malaysia recently. When you purchase on Taobao or Tmall, your products would be send to forwarders first. It gives you flexibility to choose ship your package separately or together. You can check your package logistics information in your Taobao account. Now, the service covers Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macao, Singapore and Malaysia.

Here is a how to guide for Taobao package forwarding service.

Set Up an Oversea Address

You need to set up a new oversea address in your Taobao account. Once you set it as your default address, you can enjoy the package forwarding service directly while purchasing.

Package Forwarding Flow: Purchasing, Forwarders and Transshipment Warehouse

Step one: Choose your oversea address to receive your package, and choose package forwarding service.

Step two: Choose your forwarders and say yes to the agreements.

Step three: After you have paid for your product, wait for the sellers to send your package to the forwarder.

Step four: When your package arrives at forwarder, you can receive a notice from wangwang.

Step five: When you check your order, you can find the notice that says your package has arrived.

Package Forwarding Flow-From Forwarder to Oversea Address

After your package has arrived at your forwarder, next it will be shipped from your forwarder to your address oversea.

Step one: You can either choose to ship your package separately by pressing the orange button, or you could ship your packages together by pressing the green ones.

Step two: If you choose to ship your packages together, you will enter a page like this one below. Press the blue button to combine your packages.

Step three: Press the orange button to combine all your package orders in the waiting list together.

Step four: Then you have paid for your packages, and just wait.

Step five: You can check your packages information in logistics detail in your Taobao account.

Package Forwarding Flow-Confirmation

When you have received your packages, you could press the blue button to confirm and transfer your payment to sellers.

Sina Weibo recently opened its office in Singapore, making enterprise Weibo verification available for Singapore companies. Qualified personal Weibo account could also apply for verification.

It is said by Jimmy Li, in charge of Weibo Trends Media in Singapore, that Singapore ranked the fourth in the number of registered Weibo users. Sina Weibo has 1.5 million registered users and 800 thousand daily active users in Singapore. Although most Singaporeans use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, Li said Sina Weibo was not going to compete with these social networks. Sina Weibo would target Singaporeans who speak Chinese, which occupies one thirds of total Singapore population. It sets the goal to achieve 2 million registered users and 1.5 million daily active users in Singapore.

Sina will also promote its new chat product WeMeet, and plans to enter Indonesia market in December 2013.

Sina Weibo enterprise accounts verification resembles Facebook Page. What different is that Sina Weibo requires some documents, such as certification for registering Weibo and enterprise Logo documents. Besides, if a person is famous and well known in a field, he or she could also get Weibo account verified.

Sina offers personal account verification in 34 industries, 542 categories famous people and elites. For personal Weibo account verification, you need to bind your cellphone, and have an image for your account, with no less than 30 followers, and your posts should reflect your true self.

Called the Baidu-I²R Research Center (BIRC), the joint laboratory by Baidu and I²R (Institute for Infocomm Research, a research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, or A*STAR) will operate as an R&D unit at the Fusionopolis research complex in Singapore.

The launch of BRIC showed Baidu’s commitment to enhance its products in Southeast Asia. Initially, the lab will focus on foundational Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies for Southeast Asian languages, such as Vietnamese and Thai.

via A*STAR