Ant International Powers the Takeoff of China's Inbound Tourism: Digital Payments Empowering Growth in the Aviation and Tourism Industry

Ant International Powers the Takeoff of China's Inbound Tourism: Digital Payments Empowering Growth in the Aviation and Tourism IndustryIn recent years, driven by continuous optimizations to China's inbound tourism policies and ongoing upgrades to tourism services, the number of global tourists visiting China has seen a strong rebound. Convenient and secure payment services have become crucial in enhancing the quality of aviation and tourism services and increasing tourist satisfaction

Ant International Powers the Takeoff of China's Inbound Tourism: Digital Payments Empowering Growth in the Aviation and Tourism Industry

In recent years, driven by continuous optimizations to China's inbound tourism policies and ongoing upgrades to tourism services, the number of global tourists visiting China has seen a strong rebound. Convenient and secure payment services have become crucial in enhancing the quality of aviation and tourism services and increasing tourist satisfaction. On November 29, 2024, at the "2024 China Inbound Tourism Government-Enterprise Matching Conference" held in Guangzhou, Yang Peng, CEO of Ant International, presented to over 100 ecosystem partners including representatives from tourism departments nationwide, airlines, tourism enterprises, scenic areas, hotels, and collaborative platforms detailed information on Ant Group's innovative advancements in inbound tourism services. He particularly highlighted how Antom, a subsidiary of Ant Group, facilitates inbound business travel services and supports the sustained growth of the aviation and tourism industry by providing new payment and digital innovation tools.

According to the "Trends and Prospects of China's Inbound Tourism" report released by the China Tourism Academy, approximately 95 million inbound tourists visited China in the first three quarters of 2024, recovering to over 90% of 2019 levels. Facing this positive market trend, airlines and Online Travel Agencies (OTAs), acting as crucial bridges connecting foreign tourists, need to integrate various payment methods to cater to diverse payment habits, flexibly adjust payment strategies to effectively manage seasonal fluctuations in the tourism market, and utilize advanced AI anti-fraud technology to ensure transaction security while strictly adhering to the varying regulatory compliance requirements of different countries and regions.

As a payment and digital service provider for enterprises, Antom has established a comprehensive acquiring network in over 40 countries and regions including mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, Southeast Asia, and Europe and America, supporting transactions in over 100 currencies. Enterprises and platforms can quickly access hundreds of major bank cards, e-wallets, and local payment methods globally through a unified API interface, reaching over 1.6 billion consumers worldwide. Antom leverages powerful AI-enhanced tools to provide enterprises with intelligent risk control decision-making, ensuring transaction security, and optimizes foreign exchange risk management through an AI-driven foreign exchange engine, lowering operating costs. Furthermore, Antom utilizes Real-Time Payment (RTP) and blockchain technology to significantly improve the efficiency and transparency of fund operations. Through the deep integration of AI and privacy-preserving computation technologies, Antom helps enterprises personalize their operations, precisely reach target customer groups, and effectively improve customer acquisition and conversion rates.

Zhang Peng, General Manager of Antom's Greater China Business, introduced that Antom integrates services encompassing payment, digital operations, global user marketing, intelligent foreign exchange, and scenario-based finance, providing airlines with comprehensive integrated transaction solutions. This solution covers multiple business scenarios, including direct ticket sales, ticket distribution, in-flight shopping, airport counters, and self-service check-in. Antom not only helps airlines integrate multiple payment methods, meeting the payment preferences of overseas tourists and enhancing the ticket purchasing experience but also supports multi-regional and multi-currency foreign exchange remittance and real-time settlement, enabling second-level fund arrival, leveraging Ant Group's powerful technological capabilities. Simultaneously, Antom helps airlines effectively reduce foreign exchange risks through its AI-driven foreign exchange engine. Airlines can also utilize Antom's diverse digital operational growth strategies to conduct precise marketing targeting users from different destinations, effectively driving airline business growth through marketing tools encompassing pre-trip, in-trip, and post-trip tourism scenarios. Currently, Antom has established solid partnerships with dozens of well-known domestic and international airlines.

Yang Peng emphasized: "In the digital transformation of the aviation and tourism service industry, payment is no longer a simple transaction tool but a key link connecting airlines and consumers. We are committed to working with aviation and tourism enterprises at every payment touchpoint in the passenger journey to explore new opportunities to enhance customer experience and expand business."

In serving inbound tourists, Ant Group, under the guidance of relevant national departments (the People's Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange), has collaborated with numerous institutions including NetUnion, UnionPay, Bank of China, and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to launch two innovative inbound mobile payment and marketing solutions: "Foreign Card Domestic Binding"tourists can bind their international bank cards to the Alipay app; and "Foreign Wallet Domestic Use"users of 13 overseas wallets from 10 countries and regions can directly scan Alipay QR codes to make payments at merchants.

To further optimize the inbound consumption and tourism experience for foreign nationals, on November 22, 2024, Ant Group and the China Center for International Cultural Exchange of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism reached a cooperation intention, agreeing to jointly build the "Hello! China" partner program, providing solid support for improving the quality and efficiency of inbound tourism services.

Yang Peng introduced that since the release of the "Opinions on Further Optimizing Payment Services and Enhancing Payment Convenience" by the General Office of the State Council, Ant Group has actively collaborated with various parties to promote convenient inbound payments. In the past six months, this measure has driven an increase of nearly 4.5 million international consumers, a growth rate of 300%; and an increase of nearly 12 billion yuan in inbound transaction consumption, a growth rate of 600%.

Ma Xulun, Chairman and Party Secretary of China Southern Airlines Group Co., Ltd., pointed out: "Inbound tourism is an important component of the tourism industry, and its development is crucial for driving high-quality development of China's tourism industry. In recent years, China has attached great importance to inbound tourism, successively introducing a series of policy measures such as unilateral visa exemptions, electronic consumption, and electronic payments, effectively promoting the rapid recovery of the inbound tourism market."

Yang Peng concluded: "The tourism industry is a powerful force connecting the world and maintaining global momentum. In the future, Ant Group will continue to work with industry partners to leverage digital payments and growth technologies to support the vigorous development of China's inbound tourism industry, ensuring that tourists from all over the world can enjoy a more wonderful and seamless journey in China."

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