A number of Alibaba’s (BABA) recent investments have been aimed at bolstering its mobile payments business. Through its affiliate Ant Financial, which is acquiring MoneyGram (MGI), Alibaba operates a mobile payment service called Alipay.
Alibaba is taking Alipay to several international markets as it expands its e-commerce operations abroad and also pursues the payment market for outbound Chinese tourists.
According to the UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organization), Chinese tourists traveling abroad transacted USD 261.0 billion in 2016, up USD 11.0 billion over their 2015 spending. Since 2012, China has been the world’s leading market for outbound tourists. The country sent 135.0 million tourists abroad in 2016, up 6.0% from the prior year.
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