Alibaba’s Alipay payments outside Mainland China has skyrocketed during the country’s holiday season.

According to Ant Financial, during July and August of this year, Alipay processed 2.6 times the number of in-store overseas transactions as it did during the same period last year.

And while Asian countries topped the rankings, double-digit transaction-volume growth was recorded in countries in northern and western Europe, including Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.  The number of Alipay transactions in Russia increased by more than 5000 per cent, as Chinese travellers flocked to the host country of this year’s FIFA World Cup.

In rankings for transaction volumes, Hong Kong overtook Thailand to take top spot, Australia and Singapore overtook Taiwan; and and Malaysia overtook the US.

Top 10 overseas markets for Alipay Transaction Volumes July-August

1 Hong Kong

2 Thailand

3 South Korea

4 Japan

5 Macau

6 Australia

7 Singapore

8 Taiwan

9 Malaysia

10 USA

Top 10 countries by Alipay transaction volume growth

(Based on Summer 2018 vs. Summer 2017)

1 Russia 50x

2 Luxembourg 39x

3 Switzerland 18x

4 Cambodia 14x

5 Sweden 12x

6 Norway 11x

7 Greece 7x

8 Canada 7x

9 Malaysia 5x

10 Portugal 5x

Average total spending per user increased 43 per cent to RMB2955 (US$432) from last year’s RMB2073 (US$303). The average total spending per user was highest in France (RMB11,386 or US$1666), followed by South Korea and Denmark. European countries accounted for more than half of the Top 10 countries in terms of average total spending per user.

Top 10 countries by average total spending per user

1 France

2 South Korea

3 Denmark

4 Italy

5 UAE

6 Greece

7 Spain

8 Australia

9 UK

10 Japan

Those born in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s accounted for 85 per cent of all those who used Alipay overseas during the summer months of 2018.