How Alipay Unlocks Chinese-Tourist Spend for Singapore Merchants

Alipay has become one of Asia’s most influential digital wallets, transforming how millions of consumers pay, travel, and shop. For Singapore merchants, it serves as a direct link to one of the world’s highest-spending customer groups: Chinese travellers. According to the Singapore Tourism Board, visitors from China generated over S$3 billion in tourism receipts in 2023, a figure expected to climb further as travel continues to recover.

Through Alipay+, merchants in Singapore can now accept payments from regional wallets such as GCash, TrueMoney, and Touch ’n Go eWallet, all through a single QR code. This unified network allows local businesses to reach both Chinese tourists and Southeast Asian consumers without additional hardware or contracts.

With Debia’s unified POS and payment gateway, merchants can enable Alipay quickly, manage transactions alongside PayNow and card payments, and deliver a fast, familiar, and secure checkout experience to local and international customers alike.

How Does Alipay Benefit Merchants and Businesses in Singapore?

Alipay is more than a digital wallet; it is an integrated financial ecosystem connecting over one billion users worldwide. For Singapore businesses, it delivers three major benefits:

1. Access to high-spending Chinese travellers:

Chinese visitors spend an average of more than S$3,000 per trip in Singapore, according to the Singapore Tourism Board. Accepting Alipay helps merchants capture this spending by providing a familiar and trusted payment method preferred by Chinese consumers.

2. Regional reach through Alipay+:

Alipay+ links Singapore merchants with wallets such as GCash (Philippines), Touch ’n Go (Malaysia), and TrueMoney (Thailand). This expands customer reach across Asia without separate integrations or foreign currency accounts.

3. Local settlement and efficiency:

Transactions are settled in Singapore dollars. Through Debia’s unified payment platform, merchants can view Alipay transactions alongside PayNow, Visa, and Mastercard, simplifying reconciliation and improving cash flow visibility.

How Does Alipay Work?

Alipay’s payment process is designed to make QR-based transactions fast, reliable, and secure for both merchants and consumers. When a customer scans a merchant’s Alipay QR code, the payment request is sent through Alipay’s global network for real-time authorisation. Once verified, the transaction is settled directly into the merchant’s account in Singapore dollars, eliminating the need for manual currency conversion or delays in payout.

The entire process typically takes only a few seconds, ensuring a smooth checkout experience even during peak hours. This efficiency is one reason Alipay remains the preferred choice for millions of users in mainland China and across the region.

For merchants in Singapore, Alipay offers two key operational advantages:

• Seamless integration: It connects easily to both physical POS systems and online payment gateways, enabling merchants to manage in-store and online transactions within a single system.

  
  

• Transparent reconciliation: All payments are consolidated under a unified merchant dashboard. Through Debia’s platform, business owners can track Alipay transactions alongside PayNow, Visa, and e-wallet receipts, helping finance teams close their books faster.

Behind the scenes, Alipay’s system uses advanced encryption and tokenisation to secure each transaction. This technology protects sensitive data and reduces fraud risks, aligning with international payment standards such as PCI DSS, matching the standards adopted by Debia, being PCI DSS and EMVCO.

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How Debia Simplifies Alipay Acceptance

Debia integrates Alipay acceptance into one unified payment system, giving merchants the ability to manage multiple regional wallets without juggling providers or hardware. Through a single POS, soft POS, or API setup, businesses can accept Alipay and Alipay+ payments alongside PayNow, cards, and other e-wallets in real time.

This unified approach removes technical barriers and simplifies day-to-day operations. With Debia, merchants can:

• Activate Alipay and Alipay+, without separate onboarding or gateway fees.

  
  

• View transaction history, settlements, and analytics for Alipay payments together with other rails such as Visa, Mastercard, and GrabPay.

Debia’s system consolidates settlements in Singapore dollars, ensuring finance teams can reconcile both domestic and cross-border payments efficiently. As a Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)-licensed Major Payment Institution, Debia adheres to PCI DSS and EMV standards, guaranteeing every Alipay transaction meets the highest level of security and compliance.

Data and Trends to Watch in Regional QR Payments

QR payments dominate Asia’s digital payment landscape, and Alipay is leading that transformation. The 2024 e-Conomy SEA report by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company estimated Southeast Asia’s digital payments market at over US$900 billion and US$5 trillion for wider Asia in gross transaction value, with QR and wallet payments accounting for a growing share of in-store sales.

In Singapore, more than 80% of consumers now use at least one form of QR payment weekly, according to the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The integration of Alipay+ with Singapore’s PayNow QR framework means merchants can now accept multiple regional wallets through a single QR, improving efficiency and interoperability.

The People’s Bank of China also reported a 47% year-on-year increase in cross-border Alipay+ transactions in 2024, largely driven by Singapore and Malaysia. This growth highlights a wider regional trend: merchants who enable Alipay and Alipay+ are positioning themselves to benefit from the rapid expansion of cross-border digital commerce.

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Conclusion

Alipay is more than a payment option; it is a strategic bridge connecting Singapore merchants with high-value Chinese and regional consumers. Its combination of scale, security, and familiarity makes it one of the most important QR-based payment rails in Asia.

Through Debia’s unified payment gateway, merchants can enable Alipay and Alipay+ wallets alongside PayNow, GrabPay, and major card networks within one dashboard. This simplifies reconciliation, improves settlement visibility, and ensures every transaction, whether from a tourist or local customer, is captured securely and efficiently.

To explore how Alipay fits within your payment stack and to see other supported payment rails, visit Debia Payments. If you would like tailored guidance on enabling Alipay or other regional wallets for your business, contact the Debia team at hello@debia.co for personalised setup support.