More than 90 Million Global Merchants Leverage Alipay+ Payment and Digitalisation Solutions to Attract and Engage Travellers this Chinese New Year

SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 28, 2025--

As global tourism transitions from a year of recovery to a year of growth in 2025, global merchants tap on Alipay+, Ant International’s cross-border mobile payment and digitalisation solutions, to enhance payments, in-app marketing and digital services development, to attract and welcome tourists for Chinese New Year, the first travel peak of the year.

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Alipay+ supports over 35 international wallet and bank payment partners, connecting their 1.6 billion user accounts to more than 90 million merchants in 66 markets. Alipay+ recently enabled acceptance for new partners, including Kaspi.kz (Kazakhstan) and BigPay (Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand), connecting even more users to its global merchants.

Alipay+ partners with global merchants to launch exclusive Chinese New Year campaigns to excite travellers

Around the world, Alipay+ and its merchant partners are jointly introducing promotions for Alipay+ payment partner users, in anticipation of the seasonal travel surge. Together with Alipay+, leading retailers like Resorts World Sentosa, Marina Bay Sands, Central Retail, King Power, Pavilion KL, Lotte World, Olive Young, Daimaru, Printemps, Galleries Lafayette and airport duty free stores with more than one hundred thousand stores are driving in-store and in-app engagement with upsized rewards.

2025 is expected to be a year of growth for the travel industry, with all regions seeing a greater number of travellers than pre-pandemic in 2019. In the Asia hotspots of Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea, a joint report by Ant International and IDC found that tourism spending will increase more than 330% by 2027, and greater integration of payment methods across online and offline commerce will unlock even greater growth.

“Tourism is playing an increasingly significant role to local economies, accelerating growth for merchants across sectors, but businesses need to adapt to new digital habits and preferences,” said Douglas Feagin, President of Ant International. “Starting with mobile payments, Alipay+ offers merchants solutions to connect, engage and retain customers who want to leverage technology to enhance their travel experiences. We will continue to offer more innovative ways for businesses to transform and benefit from the continued growth in tourism.”

Unified solution for merchants to engage travellers from payments to digital services

Travellers can simply use their preferred home payment app, including e-wallets, banks apps and BNPL. These travellers can “travel like a local” and pay seamlessly at online and offline merchants across their travel journey from OTAs, airlines and hotels, to street-side vendors, restaurants, shopping malls, attractions, transportation and more. More than 90% of Alipay+ merchants are MSMEs so that these small businesses can grow by accepting multiple international payment apps.

Alipay+ is accepted at offline merchants in key destinations across Asia, Europe and the Middle East, covering a wide range of travel scenarios. Through its partnerships with standardised QR operators like PayPay in Japan, ZeroPay in South Korea, DuitNow in Malaysia, SGQR in Singapore and the Alipay merchant network in the Chinese mainland, users of Alipay+’s partner payment apps can make convenient payment almost everywhere in these Asian hotspots. Alipay+ continues to grow its acceptance in Europe with more than 400,000 merchants and supporting interoperable payments via Bluecode.

Via Antom, Ant International’s merchant payment and digitisation services provider, Alipay+ also connects leading Asian e-wallets to online travel platforms, most recently with AirAsia MOVE and Booking.com, simplifying the overall payments process for Asian travellers looking for a getaway this Chinese New Year and beyond.

Through A+Rewards, an in-app destination marketing platform, merchants and tourism boards can directly engage travellers, showcasing the best food, attractions and shopping in each destination, and offering exclusive promotions to attract more new customers. For example, in Singapore, through a collaboration with the Singapore Tourism Board, travellers can purchase a discounted voucher pack to use for taxis, convenience stores, shopping malls and in top attractions like Sentosa and Mandai Wildlife Reserve.

Further enhancing and streamlining the travel experience, Alipay+ offers mini programme development solutions so users of its payment partners can access a range of services, ranging from attractions booking, ride hailing and tax refunds directly within the app, saving the hassle of downloading additional apps or spending time for physical processes. Ahead of Chinese New Year, the Geneva Tourism Bureau is leveraging Alipay+’s mini program solution to launch an in-app hub on select e-wallets and banking apps to support tourists with their navigation, booking attractions, and enhancing the travel experience in Switzerland.

About Alipay+

Ant International’s Alipay+ is a suite of cross-border mobile payment and digitalisation solutions that help connect global merchants to consumers. Consumers enjoy seamless payment and a broad choice of deals using their preferred payment methods while travelling abroad. Small and medium-sized businesses may use Alipay+ digital tools to enhance efficiency and achieve omni-channel growth.

Alipay+ enables merchants to offer in-app digital services and localised campaigns for travellers (Photo: Business Wire)

Alipay+ and partners launch exclusive campaigns for Chinese New Year (Photo: Business Wire)

LONDON (AP) — The estranged husband of former Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon created fake invoices and falsified accounting records as he embezzled more than 400,000 pounds ($540,000) from the Scottish National Party to buy hundreds of items from a luxury motorhome to Nintendo games, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, 61, rode in a prison van Tuesday to the High Court in Edinburgh, where prosecutor Alan Cameron detailed how Murrell stole cash from the party's main bank account to go on a personal spending spree.

Court papers revealed a long list of things he bought over more than a decade with the stolen funds, including two cars, a motorhome and luxury items like watches and crystal drinking glasses. But there was also a wide range of humdrum household items like gardening tools, electric toothbrushes, a bottle of super glue and shower squeegees.

Cameron said Murrell sought to dodge suspicion by giving his purchases misleading descriptions in the party finance system — for example, by recording a robotic lawnmower costing 3,070 pounds ($4,136) as spending on “legal fees.”

A look at some of the items Murrell bought with party funds according to prosecutors, by the numbers:

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Amount Murrell spent on a motorhome, which was described as a “van” in an invoice, and was never used by another party member. Police said it was only driven for four miles before it was seized.

Total spent on buying luxury leather goods and stationery from London retailer Smythson.

Amount spent on an ornate silver wine coaster, falsely described as spending on “leadership expenses.”

Amount spent on two luxury Bremont watches, recorded on accounting software as “event merchandise.”

Amount spent on two salt and pepper grinders from Lalique.

Number of purchases from Amazon that Murrell made using SNP “charge cards" at a total cost of $57,474 over 12 years, including PlayStation and Nintendo consoles, a Super Mario video game, knife sets, kitchenware and luxury Montblanc fountain pens.

Number of cars Murrell bought with party funds. He first bought a Volkswagen Golf in 2016 using $22,220 of SNP money, and later traded that car in to buy a Jaguar, claiming the expense was for staging party events. In 2021, he sold the vehicle and personally pocketed about $63,844.

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Prosecutors said Murrell was able to siphon the money because he had control over the party’s account, which held money from membership fees and donations by party members.

Murrell pleaded guilty last week to embezzlement from 2010 to 2022. Sturgeon, who led the SNP for a decade, has strenuously rejected any blame for Murrell’s crimes, and said that she was “deceived, misled and betrayed.” The pair announced last year that they were divorcing.

Sturgeon was arrested in June 2023 over the party finances investigation, and was later cleared by police.

Murrell is set to be sentenced later this month.

The SNP has led Scotland’s semiautonomous government for almost two decades while campaigning for Scotland to break away from the United Kingdom.

Jack McConnell, a former Scottish leader, said the scandal has damaged trust in politics and is an embarrassment.

McConnell, who was defeated by the SNP at an election in 2007, said the matter wasn't "just hilarious tittle-tattle here in Scotland.”

“This is embarrassing internationally for us now and we need to take it seriously," he said.

Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, center arrives at Edinburgh High Court, in Edinburgh, Scotland, Monday May 25, 2026. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP)

FILE - Scotland's First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon is interviewed in Washington, May 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell arrives in a prison van at the High Court in Edinburgh for a further hearing, following his admission that he embezzled more than £400,000 from the SNP, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (Jane Barlow/PA /PA via AP)