Alipay is now available in Italy, following a partnership with UniCredit. Alipay is one of the most popular mobile payment methods in China, with over 450 million active users. Its deal with UniCredit now means that any of the 120,000 merchants that use UniCredit across Italy can now potentially accept Alipay payments. This opens up a huge new opportunity for Italian businesses who want to make it easier for Chinese tourists to pay in their stores and restaurants. 3 million Chinese tourists visited Italy in 2016, making it the second most popular destination in Europe and one of the top 10 destinations for Chinese tourists globally. Chinese tourists are a lucrative demographic that many businesses are keen to cater for. In 2015, they spent a staggering 215 billion US dollars abroad.
