Qatar Airways signs Alipay partnership

Qatar Airways has expanded its collaboration with Wirecard to offer Alipay as a method of payment from April 2018 in selected Qatar Duty Free stores at Doha’s Hamad International Airport.

Qatar Duty Free, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qatar Airways, operates more than 90 retail stores with over 185 points of sale.

The world’s largest mobile payment network, Alipay has more than 600 million active users in China, representing approximately 54 per cent of China’s total mobile payment market by total transaction volume.

Over the past few years, the Chinese outbound tourism in the State of Qatar has continuously increased, reaching 135 million travellers in 2016. Last year, the State of Qatar was also granted Approved Destination Status (ADS) in China, allowing it to promote its tourism destinations within China.

Thabet Musleh, head of Qatar Duty Free, said: “HIA is a world-class shopping destination, and it’s important to continue to provide our passengers with the best, most convenient shopping experience during their journey through the award-winning airport. The Chinese market is very important. Thanks to our strong partnership with Wirecard, we are able to keep these high standards and fulfil the needs of our Chinese customers by offering them their domestic payment method.”

Robert Gottinger, head of airline sales at Wirecard, added: “By offering Alipay as a new payment method, Qatar Duty Free benefits from a whole marketing platform to target arriving passengers from China even better. Our experience through the collaboration with other airport retailers has shown that in the first three months since the launch of the new payment method, the average amount spent by Chinese tourists has increased by 92 per cent.”

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