The world's biggest mobile payments company is coming to Norway, and should boost tourism from China.
Tourism bosses in Norway have teamed up with China's leading mobile and online payment service to provide better services to Chinese tourists visiting Norway.
The partnership agreement was reached by Alipay and the Scandinavian Tourist Board (STB), a joint initiative by Denmark and Norway for promoting the Nordic destinations in China, according to a joint statement.
Although not such a big name outside China, Alipay is the world's largest FinTech startup. The the digital payments company was spun-off from e-commerce giant Alibaba in 2011.
Alipay will promote Norway as a Chinese-friendly travel destination and a mobile payment oriented country via Alipay's mobile application and external communication channels to its 500 million users both in China and in Europe.
The Nordic nations lead the world in acceptance of mobile payments, but home-grown services such as Danske Bank's MobilePay and DNB's Vipps are the market leaders.
In cooperation with Alipay's European partners APay Nordic and 2paynow, STB will promote Alipay services in Norway by recommending and encouraging local merchants to consider accepting Alipay's mobile payment solution and marketing platform.
“Now with this partnership with Alipay, we will further support them in deploying Alipay services in this region, which will strengthen the advantages of Norway as well as the Nordics as a Chinese-friendly destination,” said Per Holte, chairman of STB and head of tourism in Asia and Latin America at Innovation Norway.
