Ant International, the Asia-based one-stop digital payment and financial services platform for SMEs, is kicking off a global campaign to engage with fans globally in the lead-up to UEFA EURO 2024, of which it is an official partner.
Taking place from 14 June to 14 July, UEFA EURO 2024 will hit ten host cities around Germany, culminating in the finals at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
According to the Halle Institute for Economic Research, around 650,000 overseas fans are expected to attend UEFA EURO 2024, resulting in additional tourism revenue of €250million.
To ensure that tourists travelling to Germany and Europe for UEFA EURO 2024 enjoy a seamless travel experience, Alipay+ is expanding its cross-border mobile payment acceptance and merchant coverage by enabling more payment partner apps to be accepted across Germany and other popular European destinations.
Douglas Feagin, president of Ant International, commented: “Nothing brings people closer together than travel, trade, and a legendary sport like football. For European businesses, global enthusiasm over UEFA EURO 2024 brings not only international tourism revenue, but also the opportunity to grow their customer base.
“Through Alipay+, large and small European merchants can connect to Asian travellers through seamless, efficient digital payments and marketing offers enabled directly on their mobile phones. Ant International is also excited to work with leading mobile payment partners from around the world to boost their users’ travel experience in Europe.”
Alipay+ will connect users of 13 international e-wallets and bank apps to some of Europe’s largest tourist markets in Germany and beyond.
Mobile payment apps, which partner with Alipay +, will be accepted at tens of thousands of merchant stores across Germany, including in popular districts like Kurfürstendamm in Berlin, and Hofbräuhaus and
Maximilianstraße in Munich. On match days, fans can use Alipay+ payment partner apps from home to make payments at the host stadiums.
Beyond EURO 2024
Beyond Germany, tourists who intend to travel in Europe will also find that Alipay+ is accepted in popular destinations including the UK, France, Italy and Spain.
Alipay+ now connects over 88 million global merchants cross-border in 57 markets to 1.5 billion accounts on over 25 leading e-wallets and payment apps. International travellers may pay conveniently with their home payment app, while merchants can utilize Alipay+ to reach more customers with more effective consumer engagement.
Alipay+ has also launched an in-app UEFA EURO 2024 fan zone exclusively for users of AlipayHK, Touch ‘n Go eWallet, TrueMoney, GCash and DANA. In addition to themed quizzes and global merchant vouchers, more fan engagement activities such as interactive football mini-games will also be introduced.
For other fans, Antom, a payment processing service provider to merchants worldwide, will work with partners in online retail, travel and digital services to offer each fan a chance to win exclusive prizes, including trips to the event.
Globally, online and offline payment and merchant partners of Alipay+ and Antom will run UEFA EURO 2024 campaigns, offering not just promotions, but also giving fans more opportunities to celebrate the sport and win tickets to the event.
WorldFirst will also hold a lucky draw for global SMEs to celebrate and enjoy the game. WorldFirst was established to help small and medium-sized businesses overcome the complexities of international payments while doing global business.
