Chinese tourist spending in Singapore tops Southeast Asia

Chinese tourist spending in Singapore was higher than in any other SEA country over Labour Day, says Alipay.

Spending by Chinese visitors on the payment app over the Labour Day holiday (May 1-3) this year was almost double that of last year.

In addition, the average Chinese traveller spent SG$325 (RMB1611) in Singapore during the holiday – that was 13 per cent more than during the same period last year, and higher than in any of the other Southeast Asian countries.

The highest growth rate was recorded in grocery stores and fresh food supermarkets, followed by department stores and fashion boutiques.

The most popular merchants in Singapore were taxis (both hailed in the street and via taxi booking apps), airport merchants and resort merchants.

In terms of the number of transactions, Thailand was the second-most popular destination for Chinese tourists; Malaysia and Singapore ranked seventh and ninth.

Chinese seniors are an up-and-coming tourism trend – transactions made by those born in the 1940s and 50s more than doubled, with average spending per user in this age group jumping to $327 (RMB1622).

About 65 per cent of shoppers who used Alipay overseas during the Labour Day holiday were female.

Transactions made by those born in the 2000s increased eight-fold on average, to $102 (RMB506).

In Southeast Asia, 10,000 merchants already accept Alipay as a payment platform for Chinese tourists. Recent research by Nielsen and Alipay found more than 90 per cent of Chinese tourists would use mobile payments overseas if given the opportunity.

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