China's Alipay signs partnership deal with Cambodia's Pi Pay

PHNOM PENH — China's Alipay, the world's largest online and mobile payment platform, signed a partnership agreement on Wednesday with Cambodia's Pi Pay, allowing customers to use their Alipay wallets to pay at Pi Pay's Point of Sale payment systems across Cambodia.

The partnership will see Alipay become immediately available as a payment option for Chinese tourists across Pi Pay's merchant network in Cambodia, which consists of over 1,400 businesses, including high-end dinning, haute couture fashion, spa treatment, mini-marts and petrol stations, said a joint statement released at the signing ceremony here.

The acceptance points will cover Phnom Penh before being expanded to Siem Reap and Preah Sihanouk provinces in the near future, the statement said.

"With the partnership, Chinese tourists travelling to Cambodia will be able to use the Alipay app for payments wherever Pi Pay QR codes are available," it said. "Cambodian merchants who are partnered with Pi Pay will be able to use their Pi Pay terminals to take payments from Alipay users."

Cherry Huang, general manager of Alipay's cross-border business for South and Southeast Asia, said Alipay aims to enable the smart lifestyle for Chinese consumers and to bring the convenience that they enjoy at home to overseas countries they travel to.

"With Cambodia being a popular destination among Chinese travelers, we are excited to work with Pi Pay as our acquiring partner to benefit our users and at the same time, to provide an effective platform for local businesses in Cambodia to reach Chinese consumers," she said. "Together with Pi Pay, we will be able to provide Alipay users the same convenience they enjoy back home when they travel in Cambodia."

China is the largest source of tourists to Cambodia. According to a Cambodian tourism data, nearly 950,000 Chinese tourists had visited Cambodia in the first 10 months of 2017, up 45 percent over the same period last year. It is expected that about two million Chinese tourists will see Cambodia in 2020.

Pi Pay's chief executive officer Tomas Pokorny said since its launch in July, Pi Pay has rapidly grown to become the go-to-mobile payment options across Phnom Penh, with more than 168,000 downloads of the app and $27 million being spent or transferring by users.

"The partnership will allow Alipay customers to pay for goods and services in Cambodia through Pi Pay terminals," he said. "We're confident that it will add an additional boost to Cambodia's vibrant tourism industry."