Southeast Asia maintains its leadership in mobile payment usage among Chinese tourists, with Singapore and Thailand positioned at #1 and #6 in the global ranking, reflecting the region’s maturity in mobile payment solutions, according to a report by Nielsen and Alipay jointly released January 21.

The report covered the latest trends in Chinese outbound tourism and the consumption habits of Chinese travelers for the third consecutive year surveying 4,837 Chinese travelers and 547 overseas merchants. Other countries on the list of “Top 10 countries where Chinese tourists love to use mobile payments” include South Korea, Japan, Australia, France, New Zealand, Canada, the UK and the US.

In Singapore, an early adopter of Chinese mobile payment solutions, almost all merchants (97%) indicated steady improvement compared to the previous year in terms of mobile payment usage and the amount of mobile spending by Chinese tourists.

These results are encouraging more overseas merchants to deepen the use of Chinese mobile payment platforms as they go digital. Nearly seven out of ten (66%) surveyed merchants in Singapore, South Korea and the UK hope to carry out more digital store operations through Chinese mobile payment platforms and hope to further their promotional and marketing activities leveraging Chinese mobile payment platforms.

Just under two thirds of merchants surveyed in Singapore, South Korea and the UK (63%) said that they are likely to recommend Chinese mobile payment systems to their industry peers.

"Chinese mobile payment engagement level and the depth of usage among Chines tourists continued to increase, indicating a more in-depth development of Chinese mobile payment solutions globally. As such, overseas merchants are showing a more open attitude towards the application of Chinese mobile payment platforms and digital operations. More overseas merchants may deepen their use of Chinese mobile payment platforms to go digital," says Justin Sargent, president of Nielsen China.

Angel Zhao, president of Ant Financial's International Business Group, comments: “The trend of more overseas merchants going beyond payment to adopt more digitalized services is a promising one, as it helps brick-and-mortar businesses become better integrated with the digital economy while bringing more personalized experiences for consumers around the world.”