Macau Pass S.A. together with Alipay+, will expand the coverage of the cross-border payment business of mPay to more than 40 countries overseas in the third or fourth quarter of this year.
These include the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the European Economic Area countries (France, Germany and Italy), Australia, New Zealand, Qatar, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, and the United States.
The relevant cross-border payment function is applicable to mPay’s Macao resident users at 3A, 3B and JR levels, it is done by simply switching the Alipay+ overseas payment code on mPay when seeing Alipay+ logo at the merchants in these countries.
According to the 2022 Household Information Technology Survey by the Statistics and Census Bureau of the Macao SAR Government, among the online shopping consumption in the fourth quarter of 2022 in Macao, the median consumption of tourism services (MOP2,000) ranked top on the list, and comparing 2021 and 2022, the number of consumers has increased by 142%.
With the optimisation of the entry-exit management policy of the Macao SAR government, the increase in search volume of outbound flights and accommodation in overseas countries indicates that the outbound travel demand of Macao residents continues to recover in 2023, and cross-border consumption is expected to surge.
Sun Ho, Chairman and CEO of Macau Pass, said that the change in consumer culture and modern technology go hand in hand in the new era, and demand for electronic payments, especially cross-border mobile payments, is also booming rapidly.
As one of the leading mobile payment e-wallets in Macao, mPay and Alipay+ which have launched a suite of innovative digital cross-border solutions, strive to create a smart e-wallet that facilitates Macao residents to travel globally, this could also solve the issues they encounter with payment while travelling overseas, thus improve travellers’ payment and shopping experience.
Sun said that when international payment services give consumers a fine global travel consumption experience, it will also bring more cross-border businesses and tourism growth opportunities for global merchants.
mPay will continue to expand electronic payment, lifestyle services and marketing technology services to develop more open and diversified intelligent payment business scenarios, which are dedicated to introducing the inclusive ecology and vitality of Macao and even Mainland China’s digital economy to the whole world and let them have a deeper understanding of the vibrant developments.
