Consumers from China Want Familiar Digital Services, Even When Abroad

Outbound tourism is booming among China's consumers, but where are they going? One popular destination is Finland, thanks partly to adoption of the mobile payments platform that most visitors from China already use.

According to research by TAK Oy for the country's national tourism agency Visit Finland, the number of Chinese travelers to visit the country rose by 63% between 2016 and 2017, to 432,000. What's even more impressive is how much China's travelers in Finland spent—roughly €1,186 ($1,337) per visitor. That's more than triple the average spend of €363 ($409) per international traveler last year.

Much of this success can be attributed to Finland's commitment to cater to China's travelers by offering them familiar digital services such as Alipay. National airline Finnair and Finavia, Finland's Civil Aviation Administration, have led the charge, but today, retailers across the country have also adopted the Alibaba-affiliated mobile payment app.

eMarketer's Jasmine Enberg spoke with Henrik Balk, head of PMO, transformation and IT at Finnair, and Elena Stenholm, vice president of commercial services at Finavia, about why they decided to adopt Alipay as a payment method and how it's affected their businesses. (Finavia is responsible for maintaining and developing the country's 21 airports, including Helsinki Airport).

But we also want to be a leader in digital solutions and development in general. Offering Alipay is one part of the bigger picture of digitalizing the entire customer experience at Helsinki Airport, from the commercial side to operational practices.