Mobile payment was the most popular way China's outbound tourists chose to spend their cash during the recent May Day holiday, according to a report from the nation's leading mobile payment service.
China's Hong Kong and Macao, as well as Japan, topped the mobile payment chart by user number among mainland visitors during the three-day holiday, Alipay revealed in a report on Wednesday.
They were followed by Thailand,
the United States, and South Korea, sought-after destinations where Chinese use their smartphones to pay for meals, order taxis and get their consumption tax refunded.
Nearly two-thirds of outbound payments were made by women, the report said.
Meanwhile, those born in the 1990s constitute the single largest age group for shopping overseas, surpassing the older generation for the first time.
During the three-day holiday, the food and beverage chains handling the most transactions via Alipay were McDonald's, Hong Kong's Tsui Wah Restaurant and Starbucks. More travelers used Alipay at tourist attractions such as Hong Kong Ocean Park, Hong Kong Disneyland and Taipei's iconic skyscraper Taipei 101.
Taxi customers in Australia even benefited from a 10 percent discount for payments conducted via Alipay during the holiday.