Suntec City and Alipay have signed a two-year partnership to launch Alipay touchpoints in the shopping mall.

The partners believe the move will attract more Chinese tourists to Suntec, where about 350 retail establishments will progressively roll out Alipay as a payment option for Chinese tourists. By July, the partners plan to cover 60 per cent of the stores.

Alipay and its acquirer partners will jointly organise workshops for merchants. Those who sign up with Alipay will have their businesses promoted on the Alipay platform. Acquirers provide hands-on training to merchants and manage strategic content feature for their offers. Alipay has also launched a Suntec City microsite within its app to provide ongoing publicity for the mall and its merchants.

As well as tourists, the mall is also a shopping destination for business delegates attending events at neighbouring Suntec Singapore convention centre.

Singapore Tourism Board says Singapore had 15.9 million international visitors in the first 11 months of last year, with tourists from China reaching nearly 3 million, up 13.1 per cent from a year earlier. This makes China the single largest contributing country to Singapore’s tourism industry.