Alipay+ now available on S'pore's unified payment system SGQR

More convenient for tourists.

Yen Zhi Yi | April 25, 2023, 07:03 PM

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Customers will now be able to make digital payments using Alipay+ via the Singapore Quick Response Code (SGQR), according to an announcement by Ant Group on Apr. 25 cited by the Straits Times (ST).

This means Alipay+ will be accepted at National Environmental Agency (NEA) hawker centres, Housing and Development Board (HDB) coffee shops, wet markets as well as industrial canteens operated by JTC Corporation.

Partner e-wallets

In October 2022, the Ant Group had launched a joint campaign with Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to offer deals to users of its six partner mobile wallets.

These supported partner e-wallets are:

  • AlipayHK (Hong Kong)
  • Touch ‘n Go eWallet (Malaysia)
  • GCash (Philippines)
  • TrueMoney (Thailand)
  • Kakao Pay (South Korea)
  • Alipay (China)

With the integration of Alipay+ into SGQR, tourists and overseas nationals will be able to make payment using these various e-wallets in Singapore.

According to Cherry Huang, the general manager of Alipay+ offline merchant services at Ant Group, Alipay+'s integration into SGQR will increase convenience for foreigners visiting Singapore.

According to the media release cited by ST, Huang said tourists will not need to worry about finding the right amount of cash in a busy environment like a hawker centre, and they can pay with their "home e-wallets", which are more familiar.

SGQR code

The SGQR code is the world’s first unified payment QR code for e-payments and combines multiple payment schemes into a single SGQR label.

The scheme was launched in September 2018 as part of the government’s push for hawkers to go digital.

There are currently more than 203,000 merchants accepting payment via SGQR.

Post-Covid tourism recovery

The integration of Alipay+ into SGQR comes at a time where Singapore is experiencing increased tourism levels in the post-Covid era, with more than 2.9 million visitors arriving here between January and March 2023.

Visitor arrivals from Malaysia, China, Thailand, South Korea and the Philippines are among the top 10, according to statistics by STB.

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