An increasing number of foreign tourists are embarking on their "China Travel". Visa exemption, tax refund services and Alipay have become their top three must-haves, fueling booming inbound consumption during this May Day holiday.

Foreign visitors favored in-depth independent travel and quality consumption during the holiday. Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Jinhua (Yiwu is a county-level city of Jinhua), Chengdu, Chongqing, Nanjing and Xi'an made the top 10 Chinese cities by Alipay spending.From May 1 to 3, inbound tourists made payments in China via two convenient Alipay services — binding overseas cards for domestic use and Alipay+ cross-border payment solutions, with transaction volume surging nearly 70% year on year compared with last May Day.

Foreign Card Binding allows overseas tourists to link their internationally issued bank cards to Alipay. They can directly scan QR codes for daily consumption, transportation and catering in China's Mainland, with automatic currency conversion settled in RMB.

Alipay+ enables international visitors to pay at Chinese merchants directly via their local e-wallets without downloading Alipay. By scanning Alipay QR codes, payments are completed seamlessly with real-time foreign currency to RMB exchange.

Inbound tourists embraced the convenience of traveling in China with a single smartphone. Ride-hailing, public transit, food ordering, power bank rental, car rental, refueling, charging topped Alipay's most popular digital services for foreign visitors.This May Day, foreign visitors also enjoyed one-click tax refunds after shopping in China.

At tax-refund outlets in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Xi'an and beyond, visitors were able to bypass paperwork and lengthy airport queues. A quick Alipay tap or scan got tax refunds credited in as little as two minutes.

The number of outbound tax refund transactions via Alipay rose by over 40% month-on-month this holiday, with streamlined services greatly boosting foreign tourists' willingness to spend in China.