LankaPay, SLTDA and Alipay+ Join Hands to Drive Tourism Growth and Local QR Payment Adoption

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka--(BUSINESS WIRE)--LankaPay, the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) and Alipay+ have entered into a strategic collaboration to enhance Sri Lanka’s tourism appeal and drive international visitor arrivals, particularly from Asia and the wider Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

The collaboration leverages the strength of the global ecosystem of Alipay+, Ant International’s unified wallet gateway, enabled locally through LankaPay, to position Sri Lanka as a preferred travel destination among international travellers. With over 40 international partners, including leading e-wallets and bank apps in the Asia Pacific region, reaching over 1.8 billion user accounts, Alipay+ will actively promote travel to Sri Lanka through targeted campaigns designed to attract high-value tourists.

As part of this initiative, Alipay+ partner users will benefit from exclusive offers and promotions when making purchases using LankaQR in Sri Lanka. These incentives are expected to positively influence travel decisions and increase tourist spending within the country, thereby contributing to improved tourism earnings.

In response to evolving global dynamics, the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority has placed increased emphasis on attracting tourists from key Asian and APAC markets. This collaboration aligns with SLTDA’s strategic focus, enabling greater visibility and accessibility for Sri Lanka among these priority segments.

This initiative marks the first phase of a broader partnership between LankaPay and SLTDA aimed at supporting the long-term development of Sri Lanka’s tourism industry. As one of LankaPay’s global partners, Alipay+ facilitates seamless cross-border QR payments, alongside AI-powered in-app marketing and travel services, enhancing convenience for international travellers while promoting digital payment adoption across the island, and positioning Sri Lanka as an innovative destination for digital-led tourism.

In addition to driving inbound tourism, the initiative is expected to support local economic growth by encouraging micro and small merchants to adopt cross-border QR payment acceptance via LankaQR, the country’s national QR payment network, enabling them to participate in the growing digital payments ecosystem and reach global customers more seamlessly.

The partnership contributes to the broader national agenda for digital payments adoption amongst businesses, particularly SMEs, as part of Sri Lanka’s efforts for digital transformation in the financial sector.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) formalising this collaboration was recently signed between LankaPay and SLTDA at the SLTDA premises in Colombo.

Ant International is a leading global digital payment, digitisation and financial technology provider, and through collaboration across the private and public sectors, supports financial institutions and merchants of all sizes to achieve inclusive growth.

About LankaPay

LankaPay is Sri Lanka’s national payment network, operating under the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, and is responsible for the development and management of the country’s retail payment infrastructure.

About SLTDA

The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority is the government body responsible for the planning, development, and regulation of tourism in Sri Lanka.

About Alipay+

Ant International's Alipay+ is a unified wallet gateway with cross-border payment and digitisation services that help connect global merchants to consumers. Consumers enjoy seamless payments, a broad choice of deals and the convenience of digital services using their preferred payment app/e-wallet while travelling abroad. Many small and medium-sized businesses already use Alipay+ digital tools to enhance efficiency and achieve omni-channel growth.