Alipay points to a Labor Day surge in spending in China and across the region, including in Singapore. finews.asia takes a brief look.

«When China sneezes, Asia catches a cold» is the latest variation of the 19th-century Napoleonic phrase first coined by Prussian diplomat Klemens von Metternich. Ironically, although almost certainly unintentional, the update was suggested a couple of years back by the UN during the early stages of the pandemic.

But now, all talk of colds, sneezing – and worse — is clearly on the wane. Instead, we have what seems to be a new regional economic bellwether, ANT's Alipay, that seems more than inclined to trumpet the return of the Chinese consumer.

Spending Boom

With a certain alacrity, not to mention punctuality, the mainland big tech institution has developed a clear penchant for informing the media of its latest usage statistics. And they are clearly not for the faint of heart.

According to them, travel-related spending by Chinese consumers on its Alipay platform was up 70 percent during this year's labor day holiday on Monday. What was so interesting was that the gain was not from the dark days of lockdowns and strict pandemic restrictions seen this time last year. No, the improvement in spending was compared to 2019 – well before the onset of the pandemic.

Alipay also maintained it saw spending across the board, with payments made to cultural institutions, hotels, transportation, and dining.

Regional Benefit

Regionally, the payment cum social media platform indicated that Chinese tourists spent the most in Hong Kong, followed by Macao, Japan, Thailand, Korea, and Singapore.

In the city-state, it maintained that the value of transactions by Chinese tourists had nearly doubled on its platform in the first quarter, with developments being driven by the mainland's reopening of its borders for travel.

As part of that, they indicated that the Singapore Tourism Board predicts that annual tourist arrivals from China will reach 60 percent of their pre-pandemic levels this year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

updated version of it, suggested by the UN a couple of years back UN Asia catches a cold» or even a new variant of