KUALA LUMPUR, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia is the second largest market in Southeast Asia for Chinese tourists spending over Chinese New Year, as recorded by Alipay, a digital payment platform of Alibaba Group's affiliate company Ant Financial.
Alipay said in a statement Thursday that Malaysia saw a 16-percent increase in average per-capita spending by Chinese tourists from Feb. 4 to 10, with a transaction volume growth of 71 percent compared to the same period of last year.
The transaction also showed an interesting trend that Chinese millennials is no longer the dominant group as 68 percent of Chinese tourists born between 1960 and 1979 was found to be the main driving force in outbound tourism and overseas consumption.
"This year's findings highlight how mobile payment is taking root in China's outbound tourism market, and we are excited to see the robust growth in the use of Alipay by overseas tourists from third-and-fourth tier cities and middle-aged vacationers," said Alipay's cross-border business operation head Janice Chen.
Meanwhile, Heinemann, a travel-retailer with a store in Kuala Lumpur International Airport terminal 2, also reported an increase in sales driven by Chinese tourists.
Its retail operations general manager Alexander Maas said that since the implementation of Alipay, the retailer has seen over 20 percent of its total transactions completed via Alipay apps by Chinese tourists.
