Headquartered in the host city, Ant Group has been working with the Asian Games in areas ranging from digital payment, travel and ticketing services, through to sustainability initiatives.
A particular focus surrounded expanding cross-border digital payment services to seamlessly link overseas payment methods with the Chinese market.
With support from the People’s Bank of China, a number of overseas e-wallets will be able to ‘roam’ in China using Alipay+, Ant Group’s cross-border paytech and marketing solution, through its collaboration with NetsUnion Clearing Corporation.
The first batch of overseas e-wallets include AlipayHK from Hong Kong, KaKao Pay from South Korea and Touch’n Go eWallet from Malaysia.
Overseas travellers can also bind their international bank cards of major card networks to the Alipay app and pay for goods and services, including Asian Games tickets.
Asian Games organisers have been targeting international visitors, with gift packs launched that included extras such as travel and phone cards, and tourist attraction entry on top of tickets to the competition.
The 19th edition of the Asian Games was due to take place in 2022, but was postponed due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns in China. The Games will now take place between September 23 and October 8.