McDonald’s, Starbucks favoured by China’s Alipay users overseas during Labour Day holiday

When it comes to dining overseas, many Chinese holidaymakers choose to spend their money on meals at McDonald's, Hong Kong-style eateries known as cha chaan teng and coffee at Starbucks, according to the operator of mobile payments service Alipay.

Data published on Thursday by Ant Financial Services Group, which runs Alipay, found that popular US fast-food chains, Hong Kong-style cafes and coffee shops had processed the most Alipay transactions among food establishments visited by Chinese tourists during the recent Labour Day holiday, which stretched from Sunday to Tuesday this week.

The annual Labour Day holiday represents a busy travel period for mainland Chinese, just like the country’s week-long break for National Day on October 1. Government estimates had more than 1 million mainland Chinese travelling overseas on April 30. 

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Data from Ant Financial, an affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, showed that Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, Japan and Macau were the top five destinations for Chinese tourists, measured in terms of Alipay transaction volume, during the three-day holiday period.

Alipay had processed five times as many in-store transactions overseas compared to last year, as average spending per user jumped nearly 60 per cent to 1,508 yuan (US$236.92), according to Ant Financial. That was up from the 946 yuan average recorded in the same period last year.

No statistics on WeChat Pay transactions and usage during the Labour Day holiday will be released, according to a spokesman for Tencent Holdings.